Amendment 4 bill is a return to Jim Crow voting practices
The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy. Making that right contingent on a voter’s financial situation is an affront to our entire system of government.
Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill that requires eligible voters to pay off all court fees and fines before being allowed to exercise their right to vote, which could stop upwards of 1 million people from voting in the 2020 election. Let’s be clear here, this law is intended to suppress the vote of our fellow Floridians.
What’s worse is they did it to try and defy the will of Florida voters. I was proud to be one of the 5.2 million Florida voters — an overwhelming majority — who passed Amendment 4 in November 2018.
Amendment 4 clearly provides that “any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.” Before Amendment 4, Florida was one of only three states that permanently stripped most felons of the right to vote. Florida joined the movement of states that are changing criminal disenfranchisement policies to expand voting rights.
Amendment 4 passed with strong, bipartisan support, led by grassroots activists from across the political spectrum. We voted for Amendment 4 to give our fellow Floridians who served their time a second chance. We voted to help reintegrate formerly incarcerated individuals back into society. We voted to rid Florida of discriminatory, Jim Crow-era election laws. We voted to give every eligible citizen a voice in our democracy.
Poll taxes are not new to Florida. In fact, we were the first state to introduce a poll tax back in 1885. At that time, a $2 poll tax was introduced to suppress the vote of black and poor white voters. And it worked.
Fortunately, the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1964, made poll taxes unconstitutional in federal elections. In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes in state elections were also unconstitutional. Nevertheless, more than 50 years after being ruled to be unconstitutional, Florida Republicans are going back to the Jim Crow playbook in reintroducing a poll tax.
As in 1885, Florida’s new poll tax will effectively work to suppress the vote of black and poor white voters. Between 2013 and 2018, Florida assessed over $1 billion dollars in court fees to individuals convicted of felonies. Many former felons owe Florida thousands of dollars in court fees and fines. Voting rights organizations estimate that this poll tax may prevent 80 percent of newly eligible voters from voting. And a recent study by the Brennan Center shows that black voters will be disproportionately impacted by the poll tax. Florida citizens will not be able to exercise their right to vote because of their inability to pay. Passing this poll tax is undemocratic, unconstitutional and immoral.
This type of assault on voting rights is why I joined the board of advisers for Let America Vote, a national voting rights organization. I stand with Let America Vote in fighting voter suppression in all of its forms and working to make voting fairer and more accessible.
In passing Amendment 4, Floridians made it clear that they favor expanding voting rights. Yet Florida Republicans attempted to silence those voters and suppress the vote of re-enfranchised Floridians in passing this poll tax. But we aren’t done fighting. Let America Vote’s driving principle is: when politicians make it harder to vote, they will make it harder for them to get re-elected.
I will fight to repeal this poll tax and Florida voters will remember those politicians who have suppressed the vote.