Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Associated PressDecember 26, 2016

A new report says no state disenfranchises more of its citizens than Florida, due to its voting ban for people with past felony convictions. The report released last week by the Brennan Center for Justice says 1.6 million people have lost their right to vote in Florida. The report also says one-fifth of African-American adults […]

Phil AmmannDecember 6, 2016

In a pair of Context Florida columns titled, “The Shame of Florida,” Darryl Paulson has documented how Florida infamously leads the nation in the number of people—1.7-million—who are permanently barred from voting as ex-felons regardless of whether they are good citizens now. In Florida, as in Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee and other former Confederate states, these […]

Associated PressNovember 7, 2016

Calls by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his supporters to watch for fraud at the polls have raised concerns about a longstanding but little used Election Day tactic — citizen voter challenges. At least four battleground states — Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania — not only allow private citizens to challenge the eligibility of […]

Associated PressNovember 11, 2015

Criminal defendants in three Central Florida counties often face a stark choice, a public defender says: Pay hundreds of dollars in fees that help fund the prosecutors’ office, as a condition of reaching a plea deal, or face trial and risk stiffer punishment. Now public defender Rex Dimmig says the practice creates unequal treatment for […]

Martin DyckmanMarch 9, 2015

One of the truthful boasts in Gov. Rick Scott’s curiously brief speech to the Legislature last week may not have been good news to all who heard it. “We are at a 43-year low in our crime rate,” he said. In fact, by 2013 crime in Florida had fallen 60 percent from its high point […]

Tag: Brennan Center for Justice

Report says Florida’s voting ban disenfranchise 1.6 million

Martin Dyckman: End the ‘shame’ by restoring voting rights to ex-felons

Random citizens can contest your voting right in many states

Public defender: Fees for pleas lead to unequal justice

Martin Dyckman: Drop in crime bad news for Florida's private prison biz