Jesse Scheckner
Minutes after a New York jury convicted Donald Trump on 34 felony counts, social media lit up with posts declaring that the former President would not be able to vote for himself in this year’s election.
Those saying that Trump, as a convicted felon, will be barred from voting included Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo, British-American journalist Medhi Hassan and actor-comedian John Leguizamo.
But they’re wrong.
Florida law since 1977 has provided that convicted felons are not disqualified from voting during the pendency of an appeal, which Trump’s legal team will certainly file in the wake of Thursday’s verdict.
Further, state law provides that people convicted of a felony out of state are only barred from voting in Florida if their conviction would prevent them from doing so in the state where the verdict occurred.
The law in New York — where jurors agreed Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election — stipulates that felons can vote as long as they aren’t incarcerated.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. He faces a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison for the more serious counts. Considering how old he is and his status as a former President, he may receive a shorter sentence or no prison time.
Neither his conviction nor possible incarceration would prevent him from running or serving as President.
Trump has been registered to vote in Florida since Oct. 10, 2019, according to the Florida Department of State’s website, which lists his voter status as “active.”
3 comments
Dont Say FLA
May 30, 2024 at 8:17 pm
Can he have a gun, though?
If he can’t, you know he won’t be wanting everyone else to have one when he’s not allowed to have one.
If Trump can’t have a gun and gets back into the Oval Office, you know he will take everyone’s guns away purely out of spite.
tom palmer
May 30, 2024 at 9:30 pm
thx
Ian
May 31, 2024 at 9:17 am
I’d like to see the Fla Secretary of State justify the state’s position on this based on what the Fa Constitution requires. In my view, the state’s position is unconstitutional in two different ways.
First, the Fla Constitution says felons who are not murderers or sex offenders are disqualified from voting until completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation. There’s no exception in there for “unless the state where the felony conviction occurred says otherwise.”
Secondly, the state’s position is a blatant unlawful delegation of authority. The Fla Constitution prohibits the legislature and the executive branch from delegating their duties to set and carry out state policy to some other body or authority, the way our Secretary of State is delegating that duty to the laws and regulations of other states. That delegation is unconstitutional.
Somebody prove me wrong.
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