General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere's why Trump will win Florida
The Florida Constitution allows ex felons to vote. There are about a million of them, and you can be certain that all who are registered would vote for Biden. The Florida Republican legislature and the lower federal courts (controlled by Republican justices) said "Fuck That." The SCOTUS refused to hear the case, --another "Fuck That," -- which means the lower court "Fuck That" ruling stands.
snip
That cruel fact was brought home Thursday, when the (SCOTUS) justices rebuffed an effort to restore voting rights to nearly a million felons in Florida who have served their sentences and, under an amendment to the state constitution adopted in 2018, should have had their franchise restored. But the Florida legislature, backed up by the state Supreme Court, interpreted the amendment which conditioned the restoration of voting rights upon completion of all terms of sentence, including parole or probation to include payments of fines, fees and restitution.
A federal-district court barred Florida from enforcing the law while it was being challenged, allowing felons who had served their sentences to register to vote in November. The judge said the states pay-to-vote system requiring people to pay fines they could not afford amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax. But the full 11th Circuit where seven of the 12 active judges are Republican nominees, including six Trump-appointed judges, stepped in to lift that order, no explanation given. On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused to get involved.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-the-eve-of-john-lewiss-death-a-cruel-supreme-court-blow-to-his-legacy/2020/07/19/549a68d8-c9c4-11ea-b0e3-d55bda07d66a_story.html
SiliconValley_Dem
(1,656 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)actually do vote in states where they can. And how many of those felons are Cubans, who tend to lean Republican?
Once again, there are no easy answers, and we gots to keep up that door knocking and not hope for things like criminal voting blocks.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Agree with the sentiment. Though every citizen in prison is a citizen, and I believe it's in society's interest to protect the right to vote of at least almost all. And I'm 100% against the typical Republican electoral crime of disenfranchisement-via-fines.
But this isn't exactly a Biden voting bloc who can't afford to pay their fines. Don't have figures for this particular population either, but in general most felons are conservative by both nature and nurture, especially in southern states, and tended not to vote before prison. Of course.
tman
(983 posts)fuck that thinking.
Cyrano
(15,023 posts)tman
(983 posts)The words of defeat.
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)and they want the Senate...but don't want a Biden landslide or maybe simply can't believe that Biden can accomplish this as they supported other candidates.
SlogginThroughIt
(1,977 posts)Seriously this is against the the TOS.
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)so, you did
Towlie
(5,308 posts)Shame on you!
tman
(983 posts)Please explain how this is anything BUT a concession of defeat. Then please explain the logic of pursuing a feat that you have deemed impossible.
Thanks.
Towlie
(5,308 posts)tman
(983 posts)You'll notice the question mark on the end of my sentence that posed the initial question, as to give the poster the opportunity to clarify the thread title.
The title was highly suggestive (that's me being generous) that Biden will not win. It's then up the OP to clarify anything that would be drawn from such a statement, not other ramdom posters throwing around useless debate terms they understand little about.
trueblue2007
(17,138 posts)Cyrano
(15,023 posts)I should have used something like "Republicans find new voter suppression technique."
My point was that this kind of crap could cost Biden, perhaps, a hundred thousand votes. A difference of even a few thousand votes, and we would have had a President Al Gore.
Others here have accused me of suggesting we should "give up" on FL. No Way. I spend much of my weekends on the phone for the Democratic Club pushing people to get out and vote.
Caliman73
(11,694 posts)I understand your argument and it is a very good discussion to have. A lot of times people get hung up on the words or a sentiment.
Cyrano
(15,023 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)I say Biden takes it.
Thekaspervote
(32,606 posts)This is just one
https://projects.jhkforecasts.com/presidential-forecast/
karynnj
(59,475 posts)Response to threaten them directly. One pick national shift has been among those over 65.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Hillarys Florida campaign was frankly poorly thought out by her staff. Her staff put zero resources in the region where I live, a region that has something like close to a half million voters. Just trimming Trumps margin in regions like this by 5% would have had an enormous impact.
I really hope that Biden listens to President Obama and President Clinton over Hillarys former staff concerning Florida, both Presidents contested the state four times and won three of those contests. A democratic campaign has to saturate Florida with staff and representatives, even going into the smaller counties. Hillarys campaign counted on running up the score in big blue counties and then hanging on, but the Trump campaign undercut that by campaigning on the fringes of those big blue counties and siphoning away enough votes to win statewide, Hillarys campaign didnt plan a counter measure of siphoning away votes from Trump in smaller red counties like mine, there are a lot more of those among Floridas 67 than there are big counties. I estimated that if Hillarys campaign had trimmed Trumps red county advantage by around an average of 1.5% consistently, she would have won Florida. Even in my red county, where she put zero resources into and Trump did a rally. She only lost by around 10%, even though there are around 35% more republicans here than democrats. I personally know democrats that I begged to vote, but they didnt because no national democrat came here to rally them. I remember seeing how charged up the Trump voters were and thinking where is Hillary?, we were left with nothing but party loyalty.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Biden by 4.5-5.
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)That's absurd.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)honest.abe
(8,556 posts)I just find it hard to believe.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Florida is not evident like it was in 2016. I know a couple people that voted for him in 2016 who wont this time around.
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)I think Biden has good chance to win Florida even without ex-felons.
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)They found that black ex-felons were extremely supportive of the Democratic Party, but all other ex-felons in the state were slightly more supportive of Republicans.
In total, they found about 19,500 ex-felons whose rights were restored under Crist voted in 2016 -- about 58 percent were registered Democrats (largely black), 24 percent were registered Republicans (largely nonblack) and the rest registered with neither party.
The researchers extrapolated that if all ex-felons could have voted in in 2016, Democrats would have gained a net of 48,000 votes. Trump won the state by more than double that margin.
"Clearly there is a preference for the Democratic party, but its not an immense preference, particularly in voting because of low turnout," among felons, he said.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/apr/08/jared-kushner/have-more-florida-felons-registered-republicans/
"Why letting ex-felons vote probably wont swing Florida": https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2018/11/2/18049510/felon-voting-rights-amendment-4-florida
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Thekaspervote
(32,606 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)brooklynite
(93,876 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)mitch96
(13,821 posts)and business men/women to donate.. Get the names, get the amounts and pay it off..
Bloomberg are you listening?????
The repukes can't win unless they cheat... fuck'em... They will scream the dem's are buying votes...... you bet 'cha!!
m
mcar
(42,210 posts)Most county courts can't even tell the returning citizens what they owe.
I attended a workshop at the Democratic Women's Club of Florida's annual convention last September. The speaker was the president of Florida ACLU and the subject was the lawsuits against DeRacist's law overturning the will of the Florida voters.
He noted that, in one FL county, a returning citizen was given 3 different amounts on 3 different days.
What's to stop them from arresting one of these citizens who pay their fine and register to vote, but then the Clerk of Courts comes up with a different amount?
mitch96
(13,821 posts)F'n amazing.......... BUT coming from this repuke administration in Tally it's to be expected.
Not only a poll tax but they try to screw it up even going by "their" rules....... grrrrrrrrrr
m
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)There is a lot going on here that is negative for Trump and positive for Joe. Yes, ex-felons MAYBE not being able to vote in November is an issue, but no one can really say how those felons would got. We also have tens of thousands of Puerto Rican American citizens in Florida for this voting cycle.
An observation that I made is that there are very few Trump signs on vehicles of White citizens here. In 2016, the area was awash with those vehicle stickers as early as June 2016. That may not say much, but it may also say that enthusiasm for Trump is down. Hillary lost my county by only ~10%, even though her team put absolutely zero resources in a combined area that cover just over a million people in 5 of Floridas 67 counties.
In my view, Florida appears to be leaning toward Biden, that bias may get larger as Trump continues to make a mess of things.
I didnt realize it, but my area actually elected a Black man to the State House. I remember voting for him in the 2018 General, but I didnt seriously feel that he had a chance. But his message about environmental issues in the area apparently proved strong with the heavily White majority population here. So the issue of why people vote for a person is more complex in this region than just race or political party.
mcar
(42,210 posts)Democrats have opened up a 302,000-voter advantage over Republicans in vote-by-mail enrollment, an edge that could pay big dividends in President Donald Trumps newly adopted must-win state.
Five months before Election Day, more than 1.46 million Democrats have signed up to vote by mail compared to 1.16 million Republicans, according to an analysis of state Division of Election data released Friday. By comparison, in 2016, Democrats held an advantage of about 8,800 in vote-by-mail enrollment.
-------------------
IMPOTUS is shooting himself in the foot with his VBM lies. VBM was Republicans' mainstay for a very long time while Democrats tended to have the advantage in early voting. Now more Democrats are registered to VBM - by a big #.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,260 posts)Idiot DeSantis is doing everything in his power to make sure we continue to be the epicenter of the World for the virus. He controls the numbers for prisons and senior facilities - once some enterprising reporter obtains the true numbers and publishes Florida will truly be in play.
JCMach1
(27,544 posts)I am a native Floridian (my parents still live there) and I saw this first hand when I visited just before this latest spike.
I will even go out on a limb and say Florida is already lost to Trump by 2-5%.
Book mark the prediction.
edhopper
(33,208 posts)they will fix it for Trump, win or lose.
The way they did for Scott and DeSantis.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)By ignorantly nominating Andrew Gillum instead of Gwen Graham
That single decision altered both results. Gillum was branded an unethical socialist to the point 46% in the exit poll said he was too liberal for the state. I have followed that category since 1992 and never seen anything approaching that number
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)I almost cried when Gillum won, because I knew it would be an uphill battle. Gwen Graham would have routed DeSantis.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)We nominate a horribly unelectable candidate for governor in 18.
Graham would have won by 4% pulling the weak Nelson over the line.
The only surprise is how close he actually came to winning.
We even managed to elect a relatively unknown candidate to Agriculture Commissioner, a position most outside Florida dont understand. Which shows lots of people who voted against Gillum were more than willing to vote Democratic.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)And that was with full ex-felon disenfranchisement.
Trumps less popular now than he was in 2016, and even with the disgusting end run around the new enfranchisement rule, there will still be some who have paid off and are eligible to vote.
Bottom line is that Trumps in serious trouble in Florida no matter how you slice it.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)And refused to name them. We both know those two are a combo of PBC, Broward, and Miami-Dade.
HRC was not routed by any means.
herding cats
(19,549 posts)Please, pickup the curtesy phone. There's an urgent call for you.
If he truly wants to toss some money at an issue, here's an inexpensive one for him to tackle.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)I saw one lengthy report that indicated it would probably lean slightly Republican. Regardless, it was preposterous to assign the entirety to Democrats. I argued that when the bill was passed in 2018.
Biden should win Florida. The state tilts only 1-2 points red at base instinct. That is blatant from the ideological breakdown of 36% conservatives and 25% liberals, compared to the national number of 35% conservatives and 26% liberals.
We under perform in Florida because we get out worked and out strategized. It is as simple as that. I see it every cycle. The GOP makes phone calls and does door to door canvassing all year long. We try to cram within the final months. I never get contacted by statewide Democrats or national Democrats but I receive mailers and emails from Republicans and right wing sources all the time. It is obvious what it going on. They don't care that I am a registered Democrat. They look at my demographic as a white male of certain age and assign me as potentially gettable.
Plus the GOP hammers the Spanish language stations and households while we do virtually nothing.
However, that type of variance is only worth perhaps 2 points. I'm sure we will under perform again in Florida compared to polling or what the partisan index should be, but if Biden maintains a healthy national edge it should narrowly be enough.
Don't be stupid enough to believe any poll with Biden 5 or 6 points ahead in Florida. I warned about that in 2018 with Gillum and Nelson polling.
Cosmocat
(14,543 posts)are overwhelmingly going to vote R need to spend a little time in a prison.
Its not a "liberal" environment.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)I was. Been here for 33 years.
Im more optimistic than I have ever been. The virus is out of control, our economy has crashed and unemployment help runs out in 2 weeks. Then things will get real bad.
The whole felon thing is fools gold. Of course I think no one should ever lose their right to vote. But there is nothing showing that that most will even vote. And lots of the white collar felons will vote republican. There are just not 1,000,000 Democratic voter there pining to vote against trump.
I now know 4 non-Hillary voters who are voting for Biden. 3 voted for trump. One wrote in Kaisch.
And lots of old folks are scared to death of this virus, as they should be. But they see trump as writing them off as expendable for the economy.
If Biden picks Harris he will win bigger than Obama did.
It will be the Obama coalition all over on steroids.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)Coronavirus may be derailing their relentless door to door push. Typically it would be well underway in my neighborhood every afternoon.
All the more reason for Biden to prioritize Florida.
Actually what we need to do is hire someone who understands the complicated demographics of Florida, and how to maximize. My Cuban neighbors always tell me it's a joke how infrequently they see or hear Democratic spots on those Spanish stations compared to Republican onslaught. And when I occasionally click over there I detect the same thing.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)He's never won shit in his life.
notinkansas
(1,095 posts)who could possibly support that? Residents would have to be brain dead to vote for more of the same.
Renew Deal
(81,802 posts)I think they will fall into the normal party split. I dont think they will be overly grateful to democrats for helping to restore their right to vote.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Putting aside the felon voting rights issue there is little reason to believe that Trump has any advantage in Floridal. Every known data point speaks to a likely Biden win.
1) Trump didn't get a majority in FL in 2016.
2) Every state where Trump failed to get 50%, like FL and AZ he is trailing badly.
3) Trump eeked out a win by only 110,000 votes, less than 2%.
4) Biden has led Trump in 15 straight polls over 3 months. While his 5-7 percent lead isn't great by many states experience it is unusually large by FL standards where races are determined by a couple of points.
5) DeSantis. Enough said
6 There are certain things that are hallowed in FL. The leak that exposed Trump's plan to initiate off shore drilling is devistating in FL.
7) Covid debacle.
Florida will be decided early and as soon as it is called drinking alcohol will commence at our house. It will be very early
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)By even more than Obama did.
Gillum was a very, very weak candidate (sigh Gwen Graham) and probably did indeed beat DeSantis, but let's make believe he actually lost: he lost by very, very, very little. And, Trump only maybe beat HRC by 1.2%.
We are the epicenter of CV19. Literally.
DeathSantis lurves Trumpie.
Biden wins Florida by five points, at least.
Baltimike
(4,126 posts)uponit7771
(90,225 posts)USALiberal
(10,877 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)it was far less skewed towards Democrats/lean Democratic voters than you might suspect. it was nearly evenly split
I'll see if I can find the links later
sl8
(13,584 posts)I don't think that SCOTUS has denied cert; as far as I know it hasn't even been requested. They did decline to vacate the 11th Cir. stay last week- is that what you're thinking of?
Also, regarding, "... and the lower federal courts (controlled by Republican justices) said "Fuck That"...". The district court judge, Judge Hinkle, decided mostly in favor of the felons and provided the State with a procedure to follow. He was appointed by Bill Clinton. The 11th Cir. did issue a stay of that decision, but hasn't yet heard the case.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)The people voted in medical marijuana. The right wing assholes have slow-walked the implementation of that.
The people voted in allowing felons to vote. The right wing assholes have slow-walked the implementation of that as well.
The fact is, Florida remains politically a Southern state, with all the assumed and requisite racist and bullshit backward thinking that includes. There are little old ladies in Tallahassee that want bible bullshit taught as science in school, OK? They want to pass laws requiring the Ten Commandments and the dubious In God We Trust saying be placed in schools.
We like to think we are all SCIENCEY and stuff, what with launching rockets and all from the cape, but the fact is, Tallahassee is nothing but southern god damned Alabama