• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Court Blocks Florida Restrictions on Felons’ Voting Rights

jpn

Retired Navy Commander
Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 3, 2014
Messages
15,206
Reaction score
16,037
Location
Pacific NW
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Liberal
The Republican Party's war on voters took a hit today. Their attempts to suppress votes among demographic groups who tend to not vote Republican are many and various. This particular one is targeted against convicted felons who have served their jail time but still owe court fees and such.

Court Blocks Florida Restrictions on Felons’ Voting Rights

A federal appellate court ruled that Florida can’t restrict the voting rights of felons solely for being unable to pay outstanding financial obligations, in a closely watched case unfolding weeks before the state’s presidential primary.

In a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel Wednesday, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a district court judge’s preliminary injunction of a Florida law enacted last year after voters approved a 2018 constitutional amendment that restored voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million people to the rolls.

What kind of party is afraid of voters...? :shrug:
 
The Democratic Party is openly pro-criminal.
 
Great ruling. Once a person has paid their debt to society by serving their time in jail or prison, their full rights should be restored.
 
Great ruling. Once a person has paid their debt to society by serving their time in jail or prison, their full rights should be restored.

It will get appealed to the Supreme court and won't effect Novembers vote of course.
 
The democratic party will jumping for joy! They need all the votes they can muster!

Dead people, Vote early and often, Illegal aliens, Now felons, and don't forget busing
elderly folks from the care centers to vote for Mini Mike! :mrgreen: :lamo :mrgreen: :lamo

Politics!
 
The democratic party will jumping for joy! They need all the votes they can muster!

Dead people, Vote early and often, Illegal aliens, Now felons, and don't forget busing
elderly folks from the care centers to vote for Mini Mike! :mrgreen: :lamo :mrgreen: :lamo

Politics!

Yeah, democracy sucks.

Not even Bush's voter fraud commission could come up with the goods, but it doesn't stop you guys from pushing this BS.
 
It will get appealed to the Supreme court and won't effect Novembers vote of course.

If that happens, the ruling in effect now will be the one that the November balloting occurs under. In other words, the former convicted people who have served their time will be able to vote.
 
The Democratic Party is openly pro-criminal.

The Republican Party is only anti-democracy. Republicans always want to suppress voters. Democrats always want to end voter suppression. That is what their name means, democracy. As in one of the main beliefs America was founded on.

After a felon has served his or her sentence, there is no reason he or she should be banned from voting. The sentence is done, justice served.
 
The democratic party will jumping for joy! They need all the votes they can muster!

Dead people, Vote early and often, Illegal aliens, Now felons, and don't forget busing
elderly folks from the care centers to vote for Mini Mike! :mrgreen: :lamo :mrgreen: :lamo

Politics!

I guess that would be your initial attitude when you represent a party like the Republicans who know they are a minority and manipulating elections is the only way they can win.
 
If that happens, the ruling in effect now will be the one that the November balloting occurs under. In other words, the former convicted people who have served their time will be able to vote.

That would be wonderful. The last election the Dems lost a Senator by 10,000 votes out of 9 million.
 
These are citizens that have paid for their crime. They are not criminals.

Nope, that's false. The court just ruled that they do NOT have to pay for their crimes. That was the specific ruling.
 
That would be wonderful. The last election the Dems lost a Senator by 10,000 votes out of 9 million.

Yes - some 1 million people were denied the vote. Those days must end.
 
Great ruling. Once a person has paid their debt to society by serving their time in jail or prison, their full rights should be restored.

The court ruled they don't have to pay their debt to society. Didn't ANYONE read the article instead of just rolling out a slogan?
 
Nope, that's false. The court just ruled that they do NOT have to pay for their crimes. That was the specific ruling.

The difference being that EVERYONE can serve time in prison and pay their debt that way.

Not everyone has money - especially if you served time and have the problem of a job - to pay back no matter how much they want to be a productive member of society. It is a catch 22 that is blatantly unfair.
 
The Democratic Party is openly pro-criminal.

These felons have served their time and paid their debt to society. Can't say the same for all the thugs and crooks Trump is friends with who've had pardons or have had their sentences commuted by the thug-in-chief, Trump.
 
The court ruled they don't have to pay their debt to society. Didn't ANYONE read the article instead of just rolling out a slogan?

Making voting cost money is a classic Jim Crow tactic.
 
Nope, that's false. The court just ruled that they do NOT have to pay for their crimes. That was the specific ruling.

The sentence was the payment. The administrative costs of sentencing do NOT have to be paid before franchise is restored.
 
The democratic party will jumping for joy! They need all the votes they can muster!

Dead people, Vote early and often, Illegal aliens, Now felons, and don't forget busing
elderly folks from the care centers to vote for Mini Mike! :mrgreen: :lamo :mrgreen: :lamo

Politics!

Right wingers just openly hate voting. Sad. You literally just criticized people for helping someone vote. ****. Reflect on your beliefs.
 
Nope, that's false. The court just ruled that they do NOT have to pay for their crimes. That was the specific ruling.

The end of your prison sentence means you have paid for your crime.

Putting an explicit financial barrier to voting is unconstitutional, and anyone who supports it just hates America.
 
The Republican Party's war on voters took a hit today. Their attempts to suppress votes among demographic groups who tend to not vote Republican are many and various. This particular one is targeted against convicted felons who have served their jail time but still owe court fees and such.



What kind of party is afraid of voters...? :shrug:

This ruling might help ex-cons get their 2nd Amendment rights back.
 
This ruling might help ex-cons get their 2nd Amendment rights back.

Once again right wingers decry the slippery slope of more rights.

I don't see the applicability to guns, though. Are there gun ownership restrictions anywhere regarding fines and fees?
 
This ruling might help ex-cons get their 2nd Amendment rights back.

Yeah, a two-fer. Conservatives should be fully supporting it. :wink:
 
Nope, that's false. The court just ruled that they do NOT have to pay for their crimes. That was the specific ruling.

They have done their time. What they haven't paid are administrative fees associated with their processing. These fees are often capricious, arbitrary and take advantage of powerless people. But that's another discussion altogether.

What the court ruled on was the requirement to pay administrative fees in order to get their vote back. And the answer was no. Good for them.

Accounts differed as to whether this figure made Amendment 4 the single largest act of enfranchisement since the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the Voting Rights Act in 1965, or the Twenty-Sixth Amendment in 1971,” judges wrote in Wednesday’s decision. “By any measure, Amendment 4’s enfranchisement was historic.”

Months after the ballot initiative passed, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a law, signed by its newly elected Republican governor, DeSantis, saying that felons also had to pay all fines, fees and restitution as part of the punishment.

Critics said the bill was a way for the Republican legislature in Florida to change the will of the voters and, ultimately, block new voters.

The court...more or less agreed with advocates for restoring rights. The [Republican's] law, the judges wrote, “punishes those who cannot pay more harshly than those who can — and does so by continuing to deny them access to the ballot box.”

So let's see, that still leaved "voter fraud," voter intimidation, gerrymandering, adding a citizenship question on the census, and lying. Lots of options still available to Republicans.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom