Federal Judge Overrules GOP Poll Tax for Ex-Felons in Florida

Convicted felon Yraida Guanipa celebrates after registering to vote in Miami-Dade County in January 2019. Photo: AFP via Getty Images In 2018, Florida passed perhaps the most significant ballot measure of the midterm cycle, when 65 percent of voters approved an amendment which restored “the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation.

But on Sunday, a federal judge has struck down the law that would disenfranchise the recently re-enfranchised Floridians, determining that the payment plan system legally qualified as a poll tax. In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle wrote that the state “cannot condition voting on payment of amounts a person is unable to pay or on payment of taxes, even those labeled fees or costs.

The full reinstatement of voting rights for ex-felons will certainly have an impact on the crucial swing state: The initial ballot measure restored the vote for around 1.5 million residents, 430,000 of which were affected by the Republican poll tax. But as Vox noted in 2018, the influx of potential new voters won’t end Florida’s status as a battleground state:

One thing that limits the electoral impact of restoring ex-felons’ voting rights is that they turn out at particularly low rates. To demonstrate this, we first look to the population of ex-felons who were restored the right to vote under Crist and calculate what share voted in 2016. We find that just 16 percent of black and 12 percent of nonblack ex-felons voted.

A potential net gain for Democrats of up to 48,000 votes would be a significant boost, as three of the last five presidential contests in the state have been decided by 113,000 votes or less. And if Trump’s recent polling slump among seniors is reflected in Florida — where 20 percent of voters in 2016 were over 65 — there’s a possibility that it could become a pivotal Obama-Trump-Biden state.

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