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Court Blocks Floridians with Unpaid Felony Conviction Fines from Voting

HeadlineSep 14, 2020

A federal appeals court Friday blocked hundreds of thousands of Floridians with fees and fines from past felony convictions from registering to vote. The ruling comes less than two months before the November election in a major swing state where those votes could tip the outcome. Florida voters overwhelmingly supported Amendment 4, which reenfranchised people with felony convictions, in a 2018 ballot measure. Nicole D. Porter of The Sentencing Project said, “The ruling undermines democracy. Efforts to disenfranchise citizens with felony conviction histories intentionally minimizes the Black electorate.” 

In other election news, the Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily blocked absentee ballots from being mailed last week, one week before the deadline, while the court decides whether to add the Green Party’s candidate to the ballot. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, election officials are not able to send out ballots due to a slew of lawsuits and other issues.

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