11th Circuit: Florida cannot condition voting on payment of fines, etc.

OTHERWISE: 11th Circuit: 

In a historic vote Floridians restored voting rights to felons who had "completed" all terms of their sentence.  But after that moment of public enlightenment the Republican Legislature and Governor implemented it by requiring that all fines, etc. have been paid before the million or more released convicts could vote.

In an historic ruling today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held in Jones v. Governor of Florida that conditioning vote on payment violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The Circuit court in its per curiam opinion declared "But whether sounding in equal protection or due process, [the] Griffin[v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 16 (1956)] equality principle is straightforward: the state may not treat criminal defendants more harshly on account of their poverty".


Florida's Amendment 4 provided that a felon’s “voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.” Following its passage, the Florida legislature passed Senate Bill 7066, which implemented the Amendment and interpreted its language to require payment of all fines, fees and restitution imposed as part of the sentence (collectively, “legal financial obligations” or “LFOs”). The Florida Supreme Court in an Advisory Opinion on January 16, 2020 later agreed with the legislature’s interpretation of the Amendment—during the pendency of this appeal, it held that the plain text of Amendment 4 requires payment of all LFOs as a precondition of re-enfranchisement.