A new Florida law requiring felons to pay back fees, fines and restitution before they can vote could block hundreds of thousands from the polls.
, which voters passed in 2018. The judges appeared critical of the requirement passed by the Legislature last year that felons pay back all court fees, fines and restitution to victims before being allowed to vote.
Judge Lanier Anderson noted that under Patterson’s and the bill’s interpretation of Amendment 4, two felons could receive the same punishment for the exact same crime, yet one might vote before the other if he or she has more money.“In one case, justice has been done,” Patterson responded. “In the other case, it has not.”
But almost as quickly, Amendment 4 became mired in confusion and debate, partly of its creators’ own doing. Republican lawmakers were denounced nationally for creating a “poll tax,” but they justified the harsh terms in the bill by citing the words of the amendment’s own authors. However, citing an 11th U.S. Circuit Court opinion signed by eight judges, he wrote that Florida can’t stop people from voting just because they’re too poor.
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