Felony disenfranchisement is such bullshit. It’s a trick to strip votes from political opponents
Also he doesn’t pay taxes.
Meanwhile immigrants who DO pay taxes don’t get any representation.
And nobody questions anything.
He was only convicted in NY of class E felonies for falsifying business records, and in NY he isn’t barred as long as he isn’t incarcerated. Florida generally defers to the voting rights laws of the state where the conviction occurred.
Florida is also a state which has its own legal facilities for restoring the voting rights of felons under various circumstances
I should know… I voted for that legal measure about 25 years ago when it was on the ballot… Didn’t think Donald Trump would be part of this at the time…
It’s just that he and his cronies are fighting to take so many people’s vote away, while he has felonies.
Yes, I understand the irony
25 years ago, Florida was a very, very different place
Even 10 years ago… And I say that as both an Orlandoan and a Pulse survivor 🏳️🌈❤️😢 (#PulseForever)
Edit: this was all pre-Trump, but one could say that the warning signs were screaming
Felons should be allowed to vote regardless. But I’m Illinois where I’m from, you have to be in jail to lose the right.
Yes I don’t see the problem, I don’t think incarcerated people should vote because in a way they forfeit their citizenship rights but after you do your time and leave you are as much of a citizen as me or anyone else.
My issue is representation. If they are not allowed to bote, there is no incentive for prison conditions to improve. People are getting sick and dying in prisons from preventable issues. The minimum to become a convicted felon is not that much. Most those in prison are from poverty. It’s a way to keep poor people oppressed.
Fun fact: Incarcerated people are generally disenfranchised by law but are also still counted towards representational districting as “residents” of the rural and sparsely populated areas where prisons are typically located; effectively strengthening the voting power of the non-incarcerated residents of those areas several times over.
Yup. It’s called prison gerrymandering, and it’s not discussed enough.
I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t lose the right to vote (it is a right, after all) even while in prison. Hell, set up a polling place there.
Yeah but you probably believe all sorts of bleeding heart ideas like not having slavery in prisons
And dont get them started on slavery outside of prisons
Allowing the sitting government to pass and selectively enforce laws to decide who gets to vote is such a blatant loophole.
Being a convicted felon doesn’t mean you are permanently disenfranchised everywhere. In some states you must lobby to be re-enfranchised (and you can guess who gets approved and who doesn’t) and I think Florida is one of those states so any legal stuff there would only require the governor to approve reinstatement of rights and pass that order down to whomever is on the appeal board, and since he’s a conservative shitbag, too, thats a no-brainer.
A lot of other states, including New York, reinstate voting rights once the sentence has been carried out and the felon is no longer serving time or on paper, whatever that might be. If the sentence was a slap on the wrist or otherwise just sort of vanished, welp…
Idk all the specifics about his legal troubles or felon status and voting in other states, but I know a ton of the lawsuits were in New York, and if the others are in Florida, or they have jurisdiction over his voting rights due to that being his residence or whatever other reasoning, the governor would just reinstate that right.
So this one, unfortunately, probably really isn’t the gotcha it looks like.
not unfortunate imo! Disenfranchisement should be kept far far away from state power.
