Fixing confusion over Amendment 4
Coalition leader says focus is on registering ex-felons who are eligible, helping pay fines and fees for those who aren’t yet eligible
A war of words has broken out over the Amendment 4 bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which requires former felons to pay off all fines and fees included as part of their sentence before their right to vote is restored.
Democrats and other bill opponents have said the requirement is “poll tax” and have launched federal lawsuits against it, while Republicans and bill supporters say fines and restitution was always considered part of a sentence.
But Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, said at a news conference Tuesday his organization was steering clear of the controversy – as well as the three lawsuits filed by groups including
the ACLU seeking to stop the restrictions – and “focusing on people right now.”
“I know there’s a flurry of activity ever since the governor signed the bill,” Meade said at the group’s Orlando headquarters. “[But] at the end of the day, Amendment 4 accomplished what it set out to do. And no amount of legislation can change that. … Now, 1.4 million people [have] a pathway to be citizens again.”
How did things get to this? The answer is complex and has its roots in the language of the amendment itself.
A: The amendment, originally drafted by Meade and his organization, is vague about the issue, stating only that “voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.”
Supporters had long said fines and restitution would be considered part of a former felon’s sentence he or she had to complete, including at a panel sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel in October 2018.
Amendment 4 attorney Jon Mills also argued before the state Supreme Court in 2017 that completion of a sentence would include full payment of any fines, saying, “all terms means all terms.” A: Meade estimated that about 500,000 of the about 1.4 million former felons in Florida would be affected by the new law.
Q: What were the arguments over fines, fees and restitution during the Amendment 4 campaign?
Q: How many people have such outstanding debts?
Q: What is the difference between fines, fees, and restitution?
A: Fines are what a judge adds to a sentence as a monetary punishment.
Fees are mostly what a convicted person has to pay in court costs in order to help fund the judiciary system, including monthly fees paid to fund probation supervision.
Restitution is what a convicted felon is ordered to pay back to his or her victim for their crime, which could include a person, a person’s estate, or the state or federal government.
But Meade said Tuesday only about 4% of those with outstanding debts actually owe restitution, meaning the vast majority who need to pay money to complete their sentence are not paying back victims.
A: Amendment 4 supporters were already angry at DeSantis and Republican legislators for insisting a bill needed to be passed to clarify the amendment, which was approved by 64% of voters in November. They claimed that the bill was written to be “self-implementing” and would take effect automatically.
Early draft language of such a bill included much broader restrictions that had to be met before rights were restored, which Amendment 4 backers argued could leave ex-felons’ voting rights at the whims of private collections agencies charging fees well after a judge’s sentencing.
State Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, said in March that despite the early confusion, his bill would clearly state that such additional fees would not be included.
A: The ultimate bill that passed, which came out of the Senate, was even more specific in limiting the amount that had to be paid to include only fines, fees and restitution “specifically ordered by the court as part of the sentence.”
The bill (SB 7066) also provides former felons with the right to ask a judge to convert fines and fees into community service time.
A: Increased national attention on the issue brought comparisons by Democrats and some Amendment 4 supporters to the nowbanned “poll taxes” once imposed on African Americans in the South. Such taxes were used to prevent blacks from voting during the Jim Crow era before being outlawed by the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964.
That amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote … shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.”
Meade, though, has specifically avoided using such comparisons, saying the FRRC is focused on registering those ex-felons who are eligible and raising money to pay fines and fees for those who aren’t yet eligible.
A: On Tuesday, the FRRC announced a Fines and Fees fund to help pay off the outstanding debts preventing thousands from voting. Donors can visit the group’s website, floridarrc.com, their new website, wegotthevote.org, or texting “Fees” to 82623.
Meade said the fund, which can only help with fines and fees and not restitution to victims, has already raised $750,000 and is aiming at reaching the $3 million mark – though by some estimates fines and fees owed by former felons in Florida could surpass the $1 billion mark.
“This is going to go on as long as it needs to go on,” Meade said. “This is not something we’ll do for a few months and go on to something else.”
Q: What happened to complicate the issue? Q: What does the law actually say?
Q: What is the historical comparison being used to describe the law?
Q: What can Florida residents do to help former felons with outstanding debts?
Q: How many former felons have already registered to vote in Florida since Amendment 4 went into effect?
A: Former felons did gain the right to vote on Jan. 8, when the amendment went into effect – and that includes even those who owed outstanding debts, as the state said it would not prosecute anyone who registered before the new law went into effect on Monday.
A study by the liberalleaning Brennan Center estimated about 2,000 former felons registered to vote in the first three months after it took effect. Meade said that the FRRC, tracking new voters through its website, believes 6,000 have registered in the first six months.