Pressure continues to subtly build on Florida to give all of its citizens the right to vote
According to The Associated Press, 2023, “Restoring the voting rights of former felons drew national attention after Florida lawmakers weakened a voter-approved constitutional amendment and after a new election police unit championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis arrested 20 former felons. Several of them said they were confused by the arrests because they had been allowed to register to vote.”
Florida is an outlier among other states, as it “remains the nation’s disenfranchisement leader in absolute numbers, with over 1.1 million people currently banned from voting.” (The Sentencing Project, 2022)
Just this year, 14 states have filed bills that would restore voting rights to people with a past felony. Patrick Berry, counsel for the Democracy program at the Brennan Center said, “Restoring voting rights really is an issue where we’ve seen bipartisan momentum.”
Companies wanting to locate in Florida need to know that Florida is trying to suppress voting rights for some of its citizens, with the black community being hit the hardest. “Black citizens account for one-third of the total disenfranchised population in the United States while making up about 12% of the overall population.”
Restoration of voting rights for all would be a good victory for all of Americans.
If someone out there knows the states that don’t allow equal voting for all citizens I think it would be good to publish it. Keep it in front of their faces so the public knows what kind of politicians they have.
Removing an American citizen’s right to vote under ANY, and I mean ANY, circumstances should never have been permitted under the Constitution in the first place. When the government decides who can vote, the government decides who wins elections.