Joe Henderson
Headline writers around Florida received a gift from U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle. During a challenge to the Legislature’s end-run around Amendment 4 that restored felons’ voting rights, Hinkle noted lawmakers had created “an administrative nightmare.”
Well, they did.
In approving Amendment 4, voters overwhelming endorsed giving those felons who had completed their sentences and probation the right to vote again. Republican lawmakers saw their seats in the House and Senate disappearing into the heavens.
The amendment would have potentially added about a million new voters to the rolls. Many of them probably would have voted for Democrats.
Stopping this was a priority. The situation called for old-fashioned bare-knuckle politics. It required resolute cynicism.
This is not complicated.
What the good judge didn’t say, but I will, is that creating an administrative nightmare was the intention all along. Republican lawmakers wouldn’t admit that, of course. It was about “clarifying” (their word) what voters meant.
A sentence wasn’t complete, Republicans decided, until all fines and court costs were paid. They did that knowing full well that most ex-felons struggle with money and can’t pay.
Hence, the legal challenge to that caveat and a two-day hearing in Hinkle’s courtroom. Did I say ex-felons can’t pay? Some people can’t even find out how much they owe because records are so shoddy.
Hinkle didn’t bring the gavel down all the way, even though it seems pretty clear he wanted to. He threw it back to the Legislature to come up with something a lot closer to what people believed they were voting for.
A show of hands, please, for anyone who believes the GOP-controlled Legislature has any interest in doing that?
Oh, they may have some committee meetings filled with a lot of harrumphs. There could be new proposals that never get to the floor because of, well, something.
We all know what that “something” is, don’t we?
2020 is an election year.
Florida elections are always close. You’ll see a human walk on the surface of the sun before Republicans will do anything that could turn this state blue. If a court ruling later forces them to abide by what voters obviously wanted, well, it probably won’t be in time for November 2020.
It’s all about winning. It’s all that matters.
Fairness? Abiding by the will of the people and the spirit of Amendment 4?
Not so much.
3 comments
Bryan J Smith
October 9, 2019 at 7:59 pm
While, as a Libertarian, I don’t believe in the ‘tough on crime’ viewpoint, we also need to recognize one thing here too. It’s not just the Republican party at work here.
The Democratic party benefits from added voter rolls, and we are now ignoring a very important minority of Americans. The ones that are citizens and have never committed a crime.
I strongly believe in the right to vote, and regularly argue with my Conservative colleagues on what the courts are trying to accomplish.
But at some point, I do understand the frustration of Conservatives … they see the Democratic party putting felons, undocumented residents and others before them.
We’re also enacting more laws designed to ensnare Conservatives and their values, without them ever harming anyone, such as in many new gun laws. As someone pointed out to me recently, with some of the mandatory minimums, we’re sentencing some simple possession gun crimes longer than convicted rapists.
So while I’m all for felons paying their time and earning the right to vote, and we should all be against Republican games, the Democratic party has their games as well, and it can be frustrating for law abiding citizens paying taxes and following rules, just trying to live their lives in their homes without subsidizing the irresponsible or those who can be easily taken advantage of by the system.
Edward Freeman
October 9, 2019 at 9:15 pm
Undocumented resident have never been legally allowed to vote in the USA. Many drug charges also carry far longer prison sentences than rape and the fines for many drug crimes are 10 times higher than those for child molestation. Florida’s criminal “justice” system is indeed irreparably broken and terminally corrupt, however I failed to see your nexus with voting rights. Perhaps, I am just not bright enough. Regardless, thanks for your thoughts.
Casey Nelson
October 10, 2019 at 6:59 am
The author of this article and all of the rest of the people that support this crap can go jump in a lake we don’t want our communities turning into cesspools have to decent elected officials can no longer be elected because these felons only vote Democrat we know what happens when democrat run cities.
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