Background
In 2016, 6.1 million adults in the United States could not vote due to felony disenfranchisement laws.[6] Prior to 2018, Florida was one of four U.S. states that enacted permanent felony disenfranchisement, affecting 1.7 million felons.[7] Felons must wait five to seven years after the completion of their sentence before they can apply to have their voting rights restored by the State Board of Executive Clemency, which is composed of the Governor of Florida and the Florida Cabinet, and meets four times per year at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida.[8] Florida's disenfranchised felons constituted 10% of the adult population, and 21.5% of the adult African American population.[9]
As Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist reformed the process for the reinstatement of voting rights in 2007, allowing non-violent offenders to have their voting rights automatically restored.[10] Over 155,000 applications for voting right restoration were approved during Crist's four-year term.[8] Shortly after succeeding Crist as governor, Rick Scott, with the advice of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, ended the automatic restoration for felons convicted of non-violent crimes in the state and instituted a mandatory five-year wait period before felons could apply to the State Board of Executive Clemency for restoration of voting rights.[10][11][12] During the first seven years of Rick Scott's tenure, 3,000 applications were approved.[8]
