Appeals court says state can require repayment of all fines and courts costs but does not have to say how much is owed
Florida can require people with felony convictions to repay all outstanding debts before they are eligible to vote again, but does not have to tell them how much they owe, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. The hugely consequential decision will probably shut out hundreds of thousands of voters in the key battleground state in this fall’s presidential election.
The 6-4 ruling from the US court of appeals for the 11th circuit came in a lawsuit challenging a 2019 Republican-backed law imposing the restrictions. After Florida voters overwhelmingly approved a 2018 measure – often called Amendment 4 – to automatically restore voting rights to people once they complete their criminal sentences, Republicans authored a new law requiring repayment of all fines, fees and court costs before they can vote again. An estimated 774,000 people with felonies in Florida have outstanding debts, which many cannot afford to pay, and the challengers in the case argued the state was essentially conditioning the right to vote on a tax, which is unconstitutional.
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Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
