Donate to the Florida Rights Restoration Commission and help the states ex-felons regain their right to vote.
Florida is absurdly stingy when it comes to restoring rights to felons who have completed their sentences.
In 2018, Florida voters passed Amendment 4, a measure to restore voting rights to more than a million ex-felons in the state.
The GOP legislature didn’t like that one bit, fearing that the newly enfranchised wouldn’t vote for them. They schemed to undermine the new regulations.
The most recent twist in the story came in mid-September, when the 11th Circuit ruled six to four to block restoring voting rights to ex-felons who still owed fees to the state after their journey through the court system.
The ruling comes despite the fact that requiring people to pay any outstanding fees before they can vote amounts to a poll tax, which is unconstitutional.
The decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), but that still leaves at least 800,000 affected Floridians in limbo ahead of the 2020 election on Tuesday, November 3.
It’ll take time for the appeal to make its way to SCOTUS, but there is a way we can help those Floridians who have served their sentences and wish to vote, but still owe the state money.
The FRRC laid out the option in a statement released soon after the ruling:
The 11th Circuit’s decision is a blow to democracy and to the hundreds of thousands of returning citizens across Florida who should have an opportunity to participate in this incredibly important election. We will continue to place people over politics. We will not rest until we live up to the promise of Amendment 4 and see every one of the 1.4 million returning citizens who want to be a part of our democracy have the opportunity to do so.
That is why we are encouraging people to step up and defend democracy by supporting our efforts to pay the fines and fees of Florida’s returning citizens through our Fines & Fees program, and allow people with past convictions to become eligible voters despite the obstacles placed before us.
-Desmond Meade, Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
Please donate to the Amendment 4 Fines and Fees campaign.
It hopes to raise $6.4 million in all, and it’s not-quite-two-thirds of the way there, at $3.5 million as of mid-September 2020. The campaign has covered more than $3.2 million’s worth of fines and fees to date.
The A4FF campaign site is here:
See the main FRRC site:
Like the FRRC on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FLRIGHTSRESTORE
Follow the FRRC on Twitter:
@FLRightsRestore
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