Which also tells you that conviction rates on white collar crime are low.From the article:
A Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald analysisfound that 52 percent of Floridians who lost their voting rights because of a felony conviction were Democrats. A third were independents, while just 14 percent were Republicans. In recent years, black voters were five times more likely to lose their voting rights than white voters; Democrats were three times more likely to lose their voting rights than Republicans. Overall, the majority of former felons in the state are white.
Also around 46% of Florida’s prison population is African American.
Might be a tough task, I just saw a story on this, these owed fines are all in different counties, some have modern record-keeping equipment, one was found keeping records in an old shoe box. None of them are linked in any way making it very difficult for them to even know how much is owed and where to pay it. Of course Desuckis and his GOP cronies knew this so they passed this law to try and stop a legally voted on ballot issue, F-ing scumbags.This should get a reaction from the cheeto-barr to try to take it to the SC
U.S. court rules Florida cannot force felons to pay fees before voting
U.S. court rules Florida cannot force felons to pay fees before voting
A U.S. judge ruled on Sunday that the state of Florida cannot force felons to pay legal fines and other fees before allowing them to register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found that a new state law amounts to an "unconstitutional pay-to-vote system" imposed on citizensnews.yahoo.com
"The ruling, for now, clears the way for potentially hundreds of thousands of citizens to register
to vote in the swing state for the November presidential election. "
this is the same crew who made it more difficult to file unemployment for the sole purpose of keeping the number artificially low which blew up in their faces when massive numbers tried to apply during the pandemic.Might be a tough task, I just saw a story on this, these owed fines are all in different counties, some have modern record-keeping equipment, one was found keeping records in an old shoe box. None of them are linked in any way making it very difficult for them to even know how much is owed and where to pay it. Of course Desuckis and his GOP cronies knew this so they passed this law to try and stop a legally voted on ballot issue, F-ing scumbags.
It what you get with Republican government. Help the rich and DGAF about anybody else.this is the same crew who made it more difficult to file unemployment for the sole purpose of keeping the number artificially low which blew up in their faces when massive numbers tried to apply during the pandemic.
this is the same crew who made it more difficult to file unemployment for the sole purpose of keeping the number artificially low which blew up in their faces when massive numbers tried to apply during the pandemic.
That was Rick Scott who did that, I know from filing in 2013, my God what a cluster-fuck, an hours-long "skill assessment" test that was meaningless, (except to crash and make you start over), no person to see locally, all applications filed online only and no phone app. It took me 2.5 days to finally complete an application, the friggin thing would crash and you could not save where you left off.this is the same crew who made it more difficult to file unemployment for the sole purpose of keeping the number artificially low which blew up in their faces when massive numbers tried to apply during the pandemic.
When is Florida going to elect people who don't tell their own citizens to fuck off?That was Rick Scott who did that, I know from filing in 2013, my God what a cluster-fuck, an hours-long "skill assessment" test that was meaningless, (except to crash and make you start over), no person to see locally, all applications filed online only and no phone app. It took me 2.5 days to finally complete an application, the friggin thing would crash and you could not save where you left off.
I don't understand how this judge interprets the law. Jail time, fines, legal fees, and victim reparations are all part of the sentencing phase. Yet his ruling has excluded everything except jail time from being necessary to complete a felons sentence.This should get a reaction from the cheeto-barr to try to take it to the SC
U.S. court rules Florida cannot force felons to pay fees before voting
U.S. court rules Florida cannot force felons to pay fees before voting
A U.S. judge ruled on Sunday that the state of Florida cannot force felons to pay legal fines and other fees before allowing them to register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found that a new state law amounts to an "unconstitutional pay-to-vote system" imposed on citizensnews.yahoo.com
"The ruling, for now, clears the way for potentially hundreds of thousands of citizens to register
to vote in the swing state for the November presidential election. "
The GOP has a lock down vote on the shit-load of old people around here, it's stunning. Rick Scott was elected twice despite the Insurance company he ran having to reimburse medicaid $1.4 billion in fraudulent charges, (mostly on the backs of older people).When is Florida going to elect people who don't tell their own citizens to fuck off?
No, we voted to restore the voting rights of felons who had served their sentencing, which included the legal fess, fines and victim reparations imposed by the judge as part of the sentence.The people of the State of Florida voted to restore the voting rights of felons who had done their time. The Republicans need to stop trying to overturn the results of an election!
If these fines/fees/ect were not going to be paid anyway then why stop someone from voting?. No mention of reparations in any of this, most likely the fee's from probation and the like. Many of these fines/fees are not even known by the people who supposedly have not paid them, there is no central database to go to and get your account settled.I don't understand how this judge interprets the law. Jail time, fines, legal fees, and victim reparations are all part of the sentencing phase. Yet his ruling has excluded everything except jail time from being necessary to complete a felons sentence.
All this does is keep felons from having to pay (whether they want to vote or not) those fines, fees and reparations that were adjudicated in a legal court as part of the sentence, none of which were challenged legally after sentencing (in 99.9% of cases). This will open the door to those felons never paying all or any part of the fines, fees and reparations required by their sentencing.
Whether you agree with the felony voter's rights restoration law or not, surely you can see that this ruling just serves to take the away from the court's sentencing power.
This will also set up a whole new class of "car chasing" lawyers to fulfill the "unable to pay" part of the judges ruling.
I live in FL and voted on this, there was no mention of past due fee's/fines, simply that the person had completed his sentence and was now a free person, the GOP is looking for a play ro keep these voters out for obvious reasons.No, we voted to restore the voting rights of felons who had served their sentencing, which included the legal fess, fines and victim reparations imposed by the judge as part of the sentence.
And "served their sentence" is how it appeared on the ballot, not served their "time or "jail time".
That was what we voted for, but now a judge has ruled that we didn't know what we were voting for in his opinion.
This isn't about politics for me, it's about felons complying with their sentencing if they want the right to vote restored.
I don't understand how this judge interprets the law. Jail time, fines, legal fees, and victim reparations are all part of the sentencing phase. Yet his ruling has excluded everything except jail time from being necessary to complete a felons sentence.
All this does is keep felons from having to pay (whether they want to vote or not) those fines, fees and reparations that were adjudicated in a legal court as part of the sentence, none of which were challenged legally after sentencing (in 99.9% of cases). This will open the door to those felons never paying all or any part of the fines, fees and reparations required by their sentencing.
Whether you agree with the felony voter's rights restoration law or not, surely you can see that this ruling just serves to take the away from the court's sentencing power.
This will also set up a whole new class of "car chasing" lawyers to fulfill the "unable to pay" part of the judges ruling.
On May 24, Hinkle ruled that parts of the law were constitutional, parts were unconstitutional, and ordered the state to take various actions. He ruled that the Florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees, fines and restitution to their victims as part of their sentences before regaining the vote is unconstitutional, but only for those unable to pay the amounts. The law could continue to be applied to those with the means to pay their fines/fees and restitution. However, defining those unable to pay, the ruling broadly creates two categories: those who were appointed an attorney because they couldn’t afford one, and anyone who had their financial obligations converted to civil liens. The broadness of these categories would de facto make nearly all felons eligible to vote as the Tampa Bay Times found most felons are appointed attorneys and nearly all have their court fees and fines converted to liens.
It boils down to the real problem in the modern GOP they would rather look for ways to ensure minority rule than have to adjust their policy positions to actually attract a majority of voters.I live in FL and voted on this, there was no mention of past due fee's/fines, simply that the person had completed his sentence and was now a free person, the GOP is looking for a play ro keep these voters out for obvious reasons.
It boils down to the real problem in the modern GOP they would rather look for ways to ensure minority rule than have to adjust their policy positions to actually attract a majority of voters.
The people of the State of Florida voted to restore the voting rights of felons who had done their time. The Republicans need to stop trying to overturn the results of an election!
You realize that you can eliminate people's ability to vote by arbitrarily making the cost of these fees, fines, etc ridiculously high. Politicians are the ones who determine what punishments judges have to give. If they want to disenfranchise these people, they could just set the fine for stealing a loaf of bread at $10 million dollars or something.No, we voted to restore the voting rights of felons who had served their sentencing, which included the legal fess, fines and victim reparations imposed by the judge as part of the sentence.
And "served their sentence" is how it appeared on the ballot, not served their "time or "jail time".
That was what we voted for, but now a judge has ruled that we didn't know what we were voting for in his opinion.
This isn't about politics for me, it's about felons complying with their sentencing if they want the right to vote restored.
We both live in FL., so if you read Amendment 4, as I did, before voting for it, as I did, then you know it said that felons could have their voting rights restored after serving their sentence.I live in FL and voted on this, there was no mention of past due fee's/fines, simply that the person had completed his sentence and was now a free person, the GOP is looking for a play ro keep these voters out for obvious reasons.
No, this law was related to a ballot initiative that overwhelmingly passed based on the idea that permanently barring someone from voting because they committed a crime made no sense.
Since Republicans believed that most felons were Democrats however, they decided to try and undermine the ballot initiative by placing additional roadblocks the voters didn't want in order to stop people from regaining the right to vote. In response to public outcry and complaints by the Democrats though, they put an exception into the law that allowed localities to speed up the re-enfranchisement of people. Because Republicans didn't think this all the way through Democratic controlled counties are re-enfranchising their voters at a higher rate than Republican counties.
Since the entire goal of this law was to (once again) suppress voting, it's ironic that this voter suppression effort appears to be suppressing their own voters. They would have been better off if they simply accepted that we live in a democracy and people should be able to vote, even if they won't vote for you. Then again that would require them to put country before party so... yeah don't hold your breath on that.
The 24th amendment doesn't say that, it states -The 24th amended explicitly states that it is not constitutional thus your exhortations to the contrary are irrelevant.
But since the majority of these people do not have the means to pay then it becomes political. I've known people who have gone through the system, fines and fee's for just about anything are tacked on like crazy.We both live in FL., so if you read Amendment 4, as I did, before voting for it, as I did, then you know it said that felons could have their voting rights restored after serving their sentence.
Legal fees, fines and victim reparations are all part of sentencing and the sentence is not legally fully served until those are paid and that is what I voted for.
It wasn't necessary to mention legal fees, fines and victim reparations in the amendment because they are all part of sentencing and always have been.
Misdemeanors are many times adjudicated with "x days in jail and $xxx dollar fine + legal fees" and no one seems to have a problem understanding the fines and fees are part of the sentence, you don't pay those, you haven't served your sentence and you get charged with another crime, so why is it so hard to understand that the same legal fees, fines, etc. are part of felony sentencing and that the sentence is not fully served until those are paid.
If that is not what people wanted, they shouldn't have voted for it or they should amend it. Undermining it by calling it unconstitutional is not right, the felons do not have rights until their sentence is served and legal fees, fines and victim reparations are part of the sentence, and the amendment say "sentence served", so it is constitutional.
This has been turned into a political issue, when it is a legal issue. If the People feel the requirement to pay legal fees, fines and restitution to victims is not part of sentencing, then that part of the law needs to be changed, not muddied up by saying some pay, some don't.
OK, I've said my piece, everybody feel free to go back making this about politics.