State lawyers say judge's ruling will nullify Florida law restoring ex-felons' voting rights

State lawyers say judge's ruling will nullify Florida law restoring ex-felons' voting rights

Dec 05, 2019 1:42pm Eastern Standard Time by Meteor Blades, Daily Kos Staff

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1903702

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A federal judge ruled in October that it is unconstitutional for Florida to make ex-felons who have completed their sentences pay fines, legal fees, and restitution before having their voting rights restored under an amendment that took effect in January. The state’s lawyers are now arguing that if that ruling is allowed to stand, the entire law will be nullified, and ex-felons will be right back where they were before the amendment was passed—permanently barred from voting unless a merciful governor can be persuaded to restore their rights case by case.

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State lawyers told Hinkle that if his ruling isn’t stayed, evaluating ex-felons’ financial situations and registering the many tens of thousands of them eligible to vote would be an administrative burden. If the appeals court agrees with Hinkle, the lawyers said after much querying from Hinkle, the governor’s view is that this would make all of Amendment 4 law null because there is no severability that would allow the uncontested parts of a law to be separated from a part found to be unconstitutional.

Dara Kam reports in the Tampa Bay Times:

“If you really want to comply with the Constitution and let everyone who’s eligible to vote vote, pretty easy,” the judge said. “You put in place a constitutional system, it won’t matter if they (plaintiffs) like it or not. What you can’t do is to run out the clock so that people who are eligible to vote don’t get to vote in the March primary or, more importantly, in the presidential election.”

The reality here is a familiar one. If Republicans can figure out a way to suppress the vote of people more likely to vote for Democrats, not to mention suppress the votes of African Americans and other people of color, they’ll do it. Is it any surprise so many Republicans have jumped ship and consider Abraham Lincoln, the first president of their party, to be a lesser man than the squatter now occupying the White House?



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