Florida mulls letting felons vote again in midterms

Yraida Guanipa did time for drug-related offenses and was released more than 10 years ago, but she still is not eligible to vote in the US midterm elections on November 6. She is not alone: In Florida, there are 1.5 million people who cannot vote — more than 10 per cent of its adult population — because the Sunshine State strips felons of their voting rights. “It makes us feel like we are not citizens,” said Guanipa, who is 56. Technically, the restriction dates back to the post-civil War period.

Thwarted by the US Congress, which forced states to grant full civic rights to former slaves, Florida lawmakers opted to bar felons from voting — a disproportionate number of whom were freed blacks.

At that time, “lawmakers — especially in the South — implemented a slew of criminal laws designed to target black citizens,” according to Erin Kelley, elections expert at Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The controversial clause in Florida’s state constitution, which today affects blacks and Latinos in particular, is on the ballot in November.

Amendment 4 would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences, paid restitution and fulfilled their parole or probation — except those convicted of murder or sex crimes.

Currently, felons must wait a minimum of five years after completing their sentences to apply for restoration of their voting rights.

Defenders of the status quo like Richard Harrison, of the Florida Rights Coalition, says the new amendment fails to take into consideration the harm done to victims, the felon’s post-release conduct and other factors.

Nationwide, six million people cannot vote because of their criminal records.

If Amendment 4 is passed, which polls suggest is likely, 1.5 million more Floridians will be granted the right to vote in 2020 — date of the next presidential election. But which party would benefit the most? “The common assumption is that a large portion of these disenfranchised felons would lean Democratic,” said Susan Macmanus, a political analyst at the University of Southern Florida.

But Gregory Koger, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, said the implications were less clear-cut — noting that those with a high school degree or less tend to vote Republican.