Florida is the nation’s leader in felon disenfranchisement
Minnesota is now the 25th state to restore voting rights to all people with a past felony who have completed their term of incarceration. The dominoes keep falling. Florida will eventually be forced to follow suit or be even more of a social outcast from other states than it is now.
Peter Charalambous with ABC News reported that “the passage of the Minnesota law follows a nationwide shift in voting policy to enfranchise those convicted of felonies.”
Why shouldn’t they be able to vote? Governor Walz of Minnesota said, “Minnesotans who have completed time for their offenses and are living, working, and raising families in their communities deserve the right to vote.”
They also are paying taxes. There are tens of thousands of people on the Florida registry who are paying taxes every day with some of that money being used for the salaries and benefits that the Florida leadership in Tallahassee receives. The very people who will not allow registered citizens to vote are taking money from said registrants to be used for their own personal gain. Something is not right with this picture.
Eleven states withhold voting rights from certain excluded groups, with Florida being one of those 11 states. Two states deprive anyone with a past felony from voting.
Charalambous writes that Florida is the nation’s leader in felon disenfranchisement.
Someday if things do not change in Florida, this whole issue is going to blow up in the faces of our politicians. Companies will no longer want to locate in one of the few states that disallow certain groups the right to vote.
This is “the free state of Florida “. Where you’re free as long as you agree with the majority and are willing to outlaw anything that goes against the majority. Whatever constitutional rights one has, are subject to approval.
Governor Walz of Minnesota is right on point. There are a lot of people who don’t work and don’t pay taxes, yet they have the right to vote. How can Florida continue to justify their quest to punish Registrants?
Hopefully, there is a change a comin’. Recently the Florida Senate unsuccessfully tried to pass three new punishments for Registrants. The fact that they failed might be an indication… Of what?