Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
DeSantis asks court for clarification
Governor requests state justices interpret Amendment 4 language
Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to weigh in on Amendment 4’s language, asking for their interpretation of when former felons’ sentences would be considered “complete” and their voting rights restored.
DeSantis’s letter to the court comes in the wake of controversy over a law he signed in June which he said helps clarify Amendment 4, but that critics claim restricts the felon voting rights overwhelmingly backed by voters in November.
DeSantis appointed three of its seven justices shortly after he took office in January, in his remaking of the court into a conservative majority.
Amendment 4 states that felons would have voting rights restored upon the “completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.”
Advocates implied during the campaign that fines, fees and restitution included as part of a sentence would have to be paid off before rights were restored. Floridians for a Fair Democracy attorney Jon Mills 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.”
But the amendment also was meant to be “self-implementing” and take effect automatically. Tensions mounted after DeSantis and Republican legislators insisted a bill needed to be passed to clarify the amendment.
Early draft language of such a bill included much broader restrictions than what eventually passed, 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.
Despite the bill ultimately listing only fines, fees and restitution imposed at sentencing, Democrats used the phrase “poll tax” to describe the restrictions.
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition head Desmond Meade estimated estimated that about 500,000 of the about 1.4 million former felons in Florida would be ineligible to register because of the new law.
The ACLU, League of Women Voters and individual former felons filed suit against the new law seeking to overturn the monetary requirements.
DeSantis and state Attorney General Ashley Moody have asked the state Supreme Court to reject the lawsuits.
Patricia Brigham, president of the Florida League of Women Voters, said “the ballot language was clear to the 65% of Floridians who voted to approve Amendment 4.”
“There are 1.4 million former felons received the right to vote, and we still believe that,” Brigham said. “Despite what the governor asked the court to do.”
In the letter, DeSantis asks about the interpretation of “whether ‘completion of all terms of sentence’ encompasses financial obligations, such as fines, fees and restitution … imposed by the court in the sentencing order.”
The letter cites Mills’ testimony, as well as the lawsuits, in asking the court to weigh in on what has become a contentious issue.
“It is ultimately my responsibility, through the Department of State, to ‘protect the integrity of the electoral process’ by maintaining accurate and current voter registration records, including ensuring only eligible voters remain on the statewide voter registration system,” he wrote. “Essential to my duty is a proper interpretation of Article VI, section 4 of the Florida Constitution.”