Group says 67,000 Florida felons have registered to vote in Nov. 3 election BY LAWRENCE MOWER Read
More than 67,000 people with felony convictions have registered to vote since Florida ended its lifetime ban on felon disenfranchisement, according to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which led the effort to overturn the ban.
The number is well short of what the group’s leader had hoped for. But it was boosted in recent months by a surge in registrations by people with felony convictions, according to Neil Volz, the coalition’s deputy director. In August, the group estimated about 50,000 people with felonies had registered to vote.
Not known is how many of the 67,392 people are on the rolls but ineligible to vote because they owe court fees, fines or restitution. Volz said the group didn’t have that information immediately available.
In 2018, nearly two-thirds of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, which ended Florida’s 150-year-old ban on felon voting. It restored the right to vote to nearly all felons who completed “all terms” of their sentence.
Last year, Republican legislators passed a law defining “all terms” to include all court fees, fines and restitution to victims. The law, which was based on statements from Amendment 4?s supporters, severely restricted the number of felons who would be eligible to vote.
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