How Thousands of Voting Ex-Felons Could Impact Florida’s Elections
1.5 million Floridians can vote again. What will it mean for the state?
An estimated 6 million Americans couldn’t vote on Tuesday because they were convicted felons. About half of those people had finished their sentences and left prison. They still weren’t allowed to vote. Roughly half of those Americans — about 1.5 million — live in Florida.
Disenfranchisement in the United States has taken on many forms in recent years: voter ID laws and restrictions on early voting are just two examples. But restricting the voting rights of felons is one of the oldest practices on the books. And nowhere has it been more widespread than in Florida, possibly the one state where the phrase “every vote counts” consistently rings true. (See: Bush v. Gore, 2000; Obama v. Romney, 2012; Trump v. Clinton, 2016; Scott v. Nelson, 2018.)
But Florida’s ex-felons got a reprieve on Tuesday. Almost two-thirds of residents who could and did vote on Nov. 6 elected to restore voting rights for those who couldn’t. It was one of the most far-reaching statewide results in this year’s midterms, one that could have lasting effects on how future elections play out in this pivotal state.
