Do you have a felony conviction? We want to help you vote now

Potential voters with past felony convictions in Miami-Dade County need to hear this loud and clear: you still have the right to vote and there are people here to help you with the process.

For Miami’s returning citizens who owe fines and fees to the state, the recent court ruling doesn’t change the fact that you can reach out to the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office or the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition’s (FRRC) Fines and Fees program (https://floridarrc.com/ fines/miami/) for help.

The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office is working in partnership with the Alliance for Safety and Justice and volunteer attorneys to assist eligible returning citizens with modifying their sentences so that they can register to vote-even if fines and fees are still owed.

The recent reporting on the Federal Court ruling on Amendment 4, stating that fines and fees must be paid before a returning citizen can vote, has created much confusion.

Amendment 4 and the subsequent state law implementing are still valid in Florida and in Miami-Dade County. You may be able to vote if you have fines and fees by modifying your original sentence. Please do not let any confusion stop you from letting your voice be heard.

If anyone with a past conviction is unsure if they can vote because of fines and fees, please email info@pdmiami.com today.

Together we’ll make sure as many eligible Miami-Dade County citizens as possible can get to the polls this fall.

– Robert Rooks, Chief Executive of Alliance for Safety and Justice Carlos J. Martinez,

Miami-Dade Public Defender BRILLIANT JURIST In February 1999, I had my first opportunity to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. I’d been an appellate assistant public defender for 12 years and had argued hundreds of cases.

But this was the highest court in the land, and I was nervous.

I remember Justice Antonin Scalia trying to pigeonhole me with a question that could lead me down a losing path.

Just then, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pulled us back to the main issue: Does an anonymous tip that an African-American teenager had a gun justify forcibly stopping and searching him?

This remains an important social and legal issue. Can anyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity, be stopped by police and searched underneath their clothing based on an unverified tip?

Justice Ginsburg wrote the unanimous decision finding the stop and search unconstitutional, read it aloud in open court and sent me a signed copy for my wall.

Some 20 years later, I still look at it every day and, after 1,400 cases, it remains the highlight of my career.

Not only was Justice Ginsburg a warrior for equality, she was a brilliant jurist who recognized the significance of every case before the Supreme Court.

She left an indelible legacy on this country. – Harvey J. Sepler,

Miami REPLACING GINSBERG In March 2016, on “Meet The Press,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The American people are about to weigh in on who is going to be the president. And that’s the person, whoever that may be, who ought to be making this appointment.”

That was more than six months before the election. Here it is less than two months until the election. I guess, according to McConnell, we should wait.

For once, I agree with him.

– Bruce Hartman, Miami

FILL RBG’S SEAT NOW

We are all mindful that the election is near, and that whoever holds the office of president picks the next Supreme Court nominee, but waiting until after the November election to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat is a bad option for America.

The court’s new term starts this year on Oct. 5, and the newly elected president won’t take office until Jan. 20, a full four months from now. If we wait until then, the contentious Senate hearing on the judicial nomination we all expect will delay confirmation of the new justice for weeks, if not months more.

Given the political polarity among the remaining eight justices, we could be left with many of the Supreme Court’s cases end in a 4-4 tie on the important issues. Indeed, if the presidency itself becomes a judicial battle, as many predict, we’d have to wait to fill the court until protracted litigation decides who was elected president.

We should not be without a nine-member Supreme Court for such a long time. Legions of lawyers have been retained to contest the expected close presidential election. The American people deserve a fully functioning, decisive final say on the important issues of the day from all nine of our best judicial minds, politics be damned. – John A. Lanzetta,

Miami

BLAME TRUMP

The only one who panicked when learning about COVID-19 was President Trump. He was afraid to be honest with America. He knew it was deadly, yet he still played down the virus. He was terrified it would hurt his re-election. He was too stubborn to listen to the experts. He believed his own lies. He blamed others for his failures.

He caused dangerous confusion about the seriousness and prevention of the virus. He worried more about the stock market than American lives.

His lack of leadership cost our nation too many lives and trillions of dollars.

– Bob Hunter, Miami

STATE LEADERS

Re the Sept. 18 letter “Fifty voices:” It is always healthy to agree to disagree, whether it be in a professional or personal relationship. It’s also important in politics. Our Founders were great, but maybe we need to rethink the Electoral College and also the power to carry arms.

I take offense to the letter writer questioning how New York and California are run. What I would give to have a governor like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom run this state instead of Ron DeSantis.

– Lynn Vigar, Coral Gables CHARACTER MATTERS Supporters of President Trump continually say that his policies are what is most important, not his personal life. I disagree. Character is a president’s single most important leadership attribute.

They can surround themselves with policy and issues experts, but moral leadership is something only they can bring to the table. – Carlton Higginbotham,

Jacksonville BLOOMBERG’S MONEY People take pride in donating small amounts of money to benefit a noble cause. Today, there is no nobler a cause than helping to pay off the court fines and fees still owed by exfelons seeking re-enfranchisement. But time is crucial as the Oct. 5 voter registration deadline looms.

Instead of laboriously seeking donations from whomever might be able to drop $50 or $100, why not just let Michael Bloomberg swoop in and take care of the payments?

It’ll be much more efficient. And shame on Florida for failing to keep a record of the amounts many ex-felons owe the courts.

This is a needless loophole and a stain on the state’s Government in the Sunshine campaign. – Asra Jawaid,

Coral Gables TOO FAMIILAR We are being bombarded with so much information about the presidential candidates, and I find it hard to believe is that Hispanics, and many Cubans Americans in particular, support President Trump.

After escaping dictatorships and communism, how can they choose to elect someone who supports Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, plus dictators in Turkey, North Korea and Philippines.

We moved here for the right to help choose our leaders, and their choice goes against everything we value.

– Carlos Don, Miami

DIFFERENT MATTERS

It is one thing to feel fortunate that your agenda can be furthered by a person’s death;. quite another to rejoice in their death. – Pat Rivas,

Miami CORRECTION A letter to the editor in the Sept. 18 Herald misstated the number of Americans who are unemployed. According to the August report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, released Sept. 4, the number of unemployed is 13.6 million.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THAT MILLENEALS MIGHT BE SO LAZY BECAUSE THEIR GENERATION DOESN’T HAVE A HIT SONG ABOUT TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS? Jordan_Straton @Twitter