Florida voting rights

Tommy Tainant

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Jan 20, 2016
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This appeals court just granted former felons in Florida a big win for voting rights

For a moment after the 2018 midterm elections, it seemed that 1.6 million Floridians (or roughly 25% of the nation’s disenfranchised formerly incarcerated population) would get back their right to vote via Amendment 4, also known as the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative. Upon being convicted of a felony, residents in Florida are barred from voting, but Amendment 4, which was approved in the 2018 vote, was set to do away with this practice of disenfranchisement.

Instead, in June 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation proposed by the state’s Republican Party that would institute an effective poll tax. The bill made it so that people with past felony convictions couldn't vote until they paid off any financial penalties associated with their conviction, like court costs and other fines. Of course, many returning citizens don't have the spare cash on hand to pay fees — even small ones — and the financial burden in that case is enough to once again deny them their vote.

The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
 
Unlike the Welsh, whom the English seem to encourage to be a bunch of whiney fat asses with nothing to do but shoplift or shoot up heroin, the U.S. system tries to encourage good citizenship, or used to, so felons were not pampered or considered poor hapless victims for most of our history, which included many examples of Welsh immigrant felons and the like to justify such policies. Our most famous Welsh immigrant was Murray 'The Camel' Humphreys, a killer for Al Capone and later political fixer for the Chicago Mob.
 
The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
Morning tommy...not sure how "cynically pragmatic" you will find this but it seems that felons who vote do so for the same reason non-felons do...they vote for the pols who will save their jobs.
 
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This appeals court just granted former felons in Florida a big win for voting rights

For a moment after the 2018 midterm elections, it seemed that 1.6 million Floridians (or roughly 25% of the nation’s disenfranchised formerly incarcerated population) would get back their right to vote via Amendment 4, also known as the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative. Upon being convicted of a felony, residents in Florida are barred from voting, but Amendment 4, which was approved in the 2018 vote, was set to do away with this practice of disenfranchisement.

Instead, in June 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation proposed by the state’s Republican Party that would institute an effective poll tax. The bill made it so that people with past felony convictions couldn't vote until they paid off any financial penalties associated with their conviction, like court costs and other fines. Of course, many returning citizens don't have the spare cash on hand to pay fees — even small ones — and the financial burden in that case is enough to once again deny them their vote.

The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.

No problem with former prisoners voting if they have completed their sentence and are now returned into society, the problem is that most Leftists in Western nations want those still in prison to be allowed to vote and that should not be allowed.
 
The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
Morning tommy...not sure how "cynically pragmatic" you will find this but it seems that felons who vote do so for the same reason non-felons do...they vote for the pols who will save their jobs.
Im not sure ex felons are the most civic minded of people so their exercising of the franchise could not be guaranteed.But self interest is reason enough for voting. If more people did so we might get better outcomes.
 
Almost no one should vote. That's how we got the freest nation in history.

All people voting leads to lack of freedom. You don't want drug dealers to tell you how to live your life. This is what socialists want.
 
Pretty sure the DNC was already casting absentee ballots for them

Yes, and probably riding around in vans on election day picking them up along with the homeless and giving them free cigarettes and meals as they traveled around town to the polls all day. That's what criminal gangs like ACORN and other assorted 'Community Activists' and fake 'churches' like The Reverend White's are paid for.
 
This appeals court just granted former felons in Florida a big win for voting rights

For a moment after the 2018 midterm elections, it seemed that 1.6 million Floridians (or roughly 25% of the nation’s disenfranchised formerly incarcerated population) would get back their right to vote via Amendment 4, also known as the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative. Upon being convicted of a felony, residents in Florida are barred from voting, but Amendment 4, which was approved in the 2018 vote, was set to do away with this practice of disenfranchisement.

Instead, in June 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation proposed by the state’s Republican Party that would institute an effective poll tax. The bill made it so that people with past felony convictions couldn't vote until they paid off any financial penalties associated with their conviction, like court costs and other fines. Of course, many returning citizens don't have the spare cash on hand to pay fees — even small ones — and the financial burden in that case is enough to once again deny them their vote.

The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
It’s authoritarian conservatives and Republicans in the US – indeed, it’s Florida Republican lawmakers who seek to deny residents the right to vote in violation of the will of an overwhelming majority of Floridians who voted in favor of the voting rights amendment.
 
The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
Morning tommy...not sure how "cynically pragmatic" you will find this but it seems that felons who vote do so for the same reason non-felons do...they vote for the pols who will save their jobs.
Im not sure ex felons are the most civic minded of people so their exercising of the franchise could not be guaranteed.But self interest is reason enough for voting. If more people did so we might get better outcomes.
This is a variation on the rightwing theme where conservatives fear that large, inclusive voter turnouts will result in Republican candidates losing elections.

Along with unnecessary voter ID laws and unwarranted opposition to early voting, this is an effort by conservatives to deny the vote to citizens perceived to be ‘likely Democratic’ voters.

64 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the Amendment; this is yet another example of the right’s contempt for the will of the majority of the people.
 
If felons can vote, they should be able to own guns as well. Liberals, you agree, right?
 
The authoritarian US expends a lot of energy trying to deny people the right to vote. I suspect that there is a cynical pragmatic aspect to this.
Morning tommy...not sure how "cynically pragmatic" you will find this but it seems that felons who vote do so for the same reason non-felons do...they vote for the pols who will save their jobs.
Im not sure ex felons are the most civic minded of people so their exercising of the franchise could not be guaranteed.But self interest is reason enough for voting. If more people did so we might get better outcomes.
This is a variation on the rightwing theme where conservatives fear that large, inclusive voter turnouts will result in Republican candidates losing elections.

Along with unnecessary voter ID laws and unwarranted opposition to early voting, this is an effort by conservatives to deny the vote to citizens perceived to be ‘likely Democratic’ voters.

64 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the Amendment; this is yet another example of the right’s contempt for the will of the majority of the people.
They dont like people voting do they ?
 

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