Why Ex-Felons Can Vote in Florida Is Such a Big Deal
Florida will become the 48th state with a vote last night with felony convicts to vote. (Kentucky and Iowa disagree.) This means that probably over a million people were eligible to vote right away – the highest number since the 19th Amendment.
The restoration of voting rights means that many more people can now vote.
The Sentencing Project, which advocated the new amendment in Florida, reported in 2016 that 6 million people nationwide cannot vote due to felony convictions, a quarter of whom reside in Florida.
In most states, you cannot vote while you are serving your sentence (shout out to Maine and Vermont where you can), and in some states you have to wait until you finish parole or probation. Florida Amendment 4 restores voting rights after parole or probation if the crime was not homicide or a sexual felony. Because of these exceptions, the number of people who will receive the 4-Amendment vote will be less than 1.5 million, but that’s still a lot.
Disenfranchisement has a racist history and racist results
Laws prohibiting criminals and ex-criminals from voting do not directly target African Americans or any other group, but they cannot be separated from the fact that the criminal justice system tends to target people from poor and / or minority populations.
Disenfranchisement rates are not the same across all demographic groups. According to Vox, Florida has 9 percent of residents, but 18 percent of black residents have been unable to vote due to past convictions.
These laws were passed after the Civil War, when former slaves were given the right to vote. The Washington Post reports that many of the disenfranchisement laws, including those in Florida , have been designed to reflect convictions that are more common among blacks than whites.
The fight for the right to vote is not over
Criminal disenfranchisement is just one of many policies that keep eligible voters away from polling stations. Voter ID laws have a huge impact, especially when unreasonable demands are made on them – for example, in North Dakota this year, voters were required to show an ID with a mailing address. As a result, many Native Americans were unable to vote as there were often no addresses in their homes. Tribal leaders have mobilized to quickly assign addresses and print new cards in the days leading up to elections, but many other voter ID laws do not have such an easy solution. In any event, they disproportionately affect minority communities .
Voter suppression takes many other forms. For example, registered voters can be removed from the lists under the pretext of excluding people who have died or moved. These actions often affect voters who should be eligible to be elected, and coincidentally, they are on the rise in states with a history of racist voting laws .
Polling stations are sometimes moved or closed, making voting difficult. There is only one polling station in Dodge City, Kansas, and it was moved out of town this year . In general, when polling stations move or close, it affects voters of color the most. You may have problems with transportation or that you have enough free time.
Constituents face a variety of obstacles each year, and these often affect minorities and low-income people the most. This year, the shortage of working voting machines was so severe in parts of Georgia and Texas that polling stations remained open late – in Texas by court order. That said, guess who is more likely to wait another three hours in line to vote? We have a long way to go before all Americans have a say in our democracy.