Florida Voters Agree That Most People with a Felony Conviction Should Have Their Right to Vote Restored Automatically

Date:  11-07-2018 Historic vote will affect approximately 1.4 million disenfranchised people in the state

From The Huffington Post: Floridians approved a constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to people with felony convictions once they complete their sentences, a historic move expanding the right to vote to about 1.4 million people and reverses a state policy rooted in the Jim Crow South. The move is one of the most dramatic expansions of the franchise in modern times. Florida is one of four states that permanently prevents people with felonies from voting, even if they’ve completed their sentence, probation and parole. The 1.4 million people in the state who have been disenfranchised by that policy represent an estimated 10 percent of Florida’s voting population and a quarter of the total disenfranchised population in the United States. More than 1 in 5 African-Americans in the state are disenfranchised because of the policy, according to an estimate from The Sentencing Project. The only way people can get the right to vote back is if the governor decides to grant it to them through a process that takes years. Continue reading >>>