LWV of Miami-Dade County

A federal judge ruled in an LWV of Florida case that outstanding fines cannot bar formerly incarcerated Floridians from voting.

Florida judges and prosecutors are working with felons and public defenders to find ways to register former inmates to vote, a process approved by voters last year that Republican legislators have made more difficult.

On May 6, the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections visited Fort Lauderdale, Florida to hold a field hearing on voting rights and elections. I represented LWVFL as a testifying witness.

Op-ed written by Cecile Scoon, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. 

The arc of justice bent briefly toward Florida in November, when citizens here restored the right to vote for most people with felony convictions who have completed their sentences. However, the state legislature devised a way to once again deprive the vote of most of the people we had hoped to re-enfranchise.

The League celebrates 2018 midterms voting rights victories in Florida, Maryland, and Michigan. When it came to issues of elections, voters overwhelmingly selected to expand voting rights.

This November, Florida voters will vote on Amendment 4, which would restore voting rights to ex-felons.