In a historic civil rights case, a federal judge late Sunday ruled against Florida’s Republican governor and Legislature and dramatically expanded the number of eligible voters in the state to include former felons unable to pay their court fines and fees.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers were unconstitutional and restricted the voting rights of nearly 1 million citizens who would otherwise be eligible to vote only if they pay those court-imposed fines, fees and restitution to their criminal victims.
The judge said Florida was allowed to require felons to pay fines and fees before they would be allowed to vote – but his ruling allows them to vote if they represent they are unable to pay.
The judge said Florida’s current system was so convoluted that even some eligible citizens
might be discouraged from voting for fear of criminal prosecution.
Florida voters in 2018 approved restoring voting rights to felons, but DeSantis signed a
Republican bill last year requiring felons to pay all their court fines and fees before they would be allowed to vote.
