Is Bloomberg breaking law if he pays felons’ fines so they can vote?
Attorney General Ashley Moody on Wednesday asked state and federal law enforcement to investigate “potential violations of election laws” over billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s decision to help pay Florida felons’ fines, fees and restitution to be eligible to vote.
In a letter dated Wednesday, Moody wrote hat she instructed statewide prosecutor Nick Cox to work with law enforcement and any statewide grand jury that Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis may want to call to address the matter.
DeSantis initially asked Moody to review the matter, the attorney general wrote.
The request to launch a criminal investigation escalates Florida’s twoyear battle over felon voting rights and could set up a pre-election fight in Florida, a key swing state in the upcoming presidential election.
“Today, I sent a letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into potential violations of election laws,” said Lauren Cassedy, a spokeswoman for Moody’s office.
Florida voters in 2018 overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment that reversed a decades-old policy that kept former felons from being able to vote in the state without first seeking official clemency.
Following the 2018 passage of Amendment 4, which restored the right to vote to nearly all of the state’s 1.4 million felons, DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature passed a law requiring felons to pay back all court-ordered fees, fines or restitution to victims before they could register to vote.
The law, which has been the subject of myriad court battles, dramatically undercut the number of felons who would be eligible to vote. An estimated 80% of felons in Florida are too poor to pay their fees and fines, meaning they would be unable to vote. Most owe between $500 and $5,000.
In response, an organization, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, started collecting money to help people with felony convictions pay off court fees and fines — but not restitution.
It is legal in Florida to have someone pay off your court fees, fines or restitution, according to Tampa attorney Michael Steinberg, who represents one of the plaintiffs in the ongoing Amendment 4 litigation.
“It’s no different than if someone gave someone a gift to pay their fines,” he said. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.”
In Hillsborough County alone, the Rights Restoration Coalition has paid off more than $516,000 in court fees and fines for more than 400 people, according to county clerk data.
Bloomberg, a former Democratic presidential candidate, announced this week that he helped the group raise an additional $16 million to help felons who have completed their prison sentences pay fines, fees and restitution so they can vote. The former New York mayor has also pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden win Florida.