Poll shows felon voting rights amendment gets huge support

According to UNF survey, proposal is backed by 71 percent

A new poll shows huge support in Florida for restoring voting rights for former felons.

A survey by the University of North Florida shows 71 percent support for Amendment 4, which would allow Floridians with felony convictions to have their rights restored upon completion of their sentence or probation.

Only 21 percent of the sample of 616 likely voters said they would vote no. The margin of error is about 4 percentage points.

An amendment requires 60 percent of the vote to be ratified.

Currently, Florida is one of only three states that don’t automatically restore such rights, requiring a lengthy process that involves individual appeals to the Florida Cabinet. There is currently a backlog of thousands of such applications, and about 1.6 million Floridians, largely African Americans, have been permanently barred from voting without clemency.

Only 8 percent of respondents didn’t know how they would vote, UNF said.

The referendum garnered the most support among African Americans, with 82 percent saying they would vote yes. Among whites, 69 percent said they would vote yes, along with 65 percent of Hispanics.

“These results reflect the status of African-Americans as the population most directly affected by Florida’s felon disenfranchisement laws,” Natasha Christie, chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at UNF, said in a statement.

“With such a large majority of likely voters saying they would vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 4, this indicates views on this issue are becoming more progressive overall throughout the state, regardless of race,” Christie said.

The referendum was placed on the ballot following a statewide petition campaign by Orlando resident Desmond Meade and his group Floridians for Fair Democracy, which successfully gathered more than 799,000 certified signatures.

“We are excited that Amendment 4, through the hard work of an energetic grassroots movement, is uniting Floridians across the Sunshine State under the simple belief: when a debt is paid, its paid,” Meade said in a statement.

“Regardless of party, gender, or race, Floridians strongly support Amendment 4.”