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[Barrylocke]

Fun Florida Facts
No matter where you are in Florida, you're never more than 60 miles from the ocean.

Florida is one of only three states that bans former felons from voting for the rest of their life.

That policy disenfranchises 1.68 million Floridians, including one out of every five African American adults in the state.
​
Floridians could vote to automatically give former felons their rights back. But Desmond and Neil need over 700,000 signatures if that's going to be on the 2018 ballot.
​
”Florida" is Spanish for ”Land of the Flowers".

I was just watching the newest Youtube clips of Samantha Bee, and one segment jumped out at me. Sam speaks to two men, a Democrat and a Republican, who were charged with felons in Florida but are now working to try to change voting laws in Florida which essentially block citizens from being able to vote for life, decades after they even get out of prison.

I don't live in Florida and am not an ex-felon, but I do live Virginia which also permanently disenfranchises felons unless given a pardon (albeit the current governor has been taking steps against this, thanks Gov. McAuliffe). Being barred from the right to vote after finishing your sentence is an abhorrent practice that we do in the United States, and any steps that can be done to change this is something that we need to support.

If any of you live in Florida, or have people you know who do, I encourage you to visit the sites below for more information, instructions on how to sign the petition for Florida residents, and a link to donate to help people on the ground with the effort. All citizens deserve the right to vote.

Floridians for a Fair Democracy, the official page for the initiative main campaigner.
Ballotopedia page on the Florida Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative
Miami Rights, Samantha Bee's Miami Vice parody page giving fast facts and links to the effort

 

[TheUntamedLegend]

You mean to tell me there are non-felons in Florida?

 

[firehawk12]

One thing I don't understand is whether or not they can vote if they move to another state.

Also, presumably you'd think there'd be some Constitutional or Bill of Rights thing that would prevent complete disenfranchisement.

 

[NewFresh]

Saw the segment. Know one person in florida so sent it over to them.

 

[GrizzNKev]

I attended a presentation by the first guy interviewed and the organization I'm an officer of at school (college democrats) will be pushing this petition hard as one of our big goals this year. If you're in Florida, sign this thing. People need their rights back.

 

[SchrodingerC]

You mean to tell me there are non-felons in Florida?

I'll make sure to send this info to family and friends.

 

[Septimus Prime]

That policy disenfranchises 1.68 million Floridians, including one out of every five African American adults in the state.

The Four-Fifths Compromise

I hope you guys get this on the ballot and passed.

 

[Frankfurter]

1 out of 5 black males is a former felon... unbelievable

Edit: Wait, it's all blacks... that's even worse.

 

[Necrovex]

I filled out the petition a couple weeks ago. Florida making some progress for once!

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

The Four-Fifths Compromise

I hope you guys get this on the ballot and passed.

And there enlies a big part of why the law exists in the first place. I'd love to see it overturned.

 

[Beartruck]

I don't see this passing. Florida would no longer be a swing state if it did.

 

[ced]

You're crazy if you think Florida would pass this, I've been in FL my whole life so trust me.

 

[Unbounded]

I'm all for this.

 

[thefro]

Someone get the Crooked media crew to plug this.

 

[Brazil]

How can a country call itself a democracy and not allow everyone to vote? Fucking bizarre.

 

[ZOONAMI]

Huge. Will help FL be blue again, maybe.

 

[ZOONAMI]

How can a country call itself a democracy and not allow everyone to vote? Fucking bizarre.

We aren't technically a democracy at all.

 

[whyamihere]

And Hillary lost Florida by 112,911 votes.

 

[Kthulhu]

Hope it passes. Ex-cons get treated like shit in this country, and every little bit helps.

 

[Barrylocke]

You're crazy if you think Florida would pass this, I've been in FL my whole life so trust me.

I know efforts like this are often a longshot, but people need to try to keep the issue in the spotlight. 700 thousand people showing the state government that they have interest in a law like this being changed seems huge to me. Especially since the state has no limit on when the law can be re-attempted.

 

[Kusagari]

I have real doubts this would pass, especially in an off election year, considering the 60% requirement.

 

[ced]

I know efforts like this are often a longshot, but people need to try to keep the issue in the spotlight. 700 thousand people showing the state government that they have interest in a law like this being changed seems huge to me. Especially since the state has no limit on when the law can be re-attempted.

You're right, I was being a bit pessimistic.

 

[thefro]

I have real doubts this would pass, especially in an off election year, considering the 60% requirement.

Still would suck up a lot of GOP money/time fighting it.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

In 2016 California's ballot offered a choice: Repeal the death penalty. Make it easier to execute condemned inmates. Do neither and leave things as is.

We picked the second option.

I'm not liking Florida's odds here. I wish them luck.

 

[turmoil]

How can a country call itself a democracy and not allow everyone to vote? Fucking bizarre.

The US is a flawed democracy.

 

[ShironRedshift]

I don't see this passing. Florida would no longer be a swing state if it did.

Same, especially since people tend not to be very sympathetic of the rights of felons (and that can indeed be difficult to do, especially if you were personally affected in some way, but that doesn't make it right). If California went out of their way to speed up the death penalty instead of getting rid of it or even just leaving it alone, I can't see something like this passing in Florida. Most people probably just see it as part of their punishment and getting what they deserve (if not going a step farther and entertaining conspiracy theories about democracy entirely falling apart if this happened) and leaving it at that.

It should pass, but there's no way I can see it actually happening.

 

[XT Vengeance]

Saw the segment. Know one person in florida so sent it over to them.

I just did this as well. Not sure if they will sign it though, as they are a bit on the...so-called conservative side. I told her that if she really cares about democracy then she should put her money where her mouth is.

 

[skullmuffins]

Someone get the Crooked media crew to plug this.

The new Pod Save the People podcast actually brought this up as the first topic they covered on their first episode. I was listening to it while playing video games at 2 in the morning and immediately paused what I was doing to go print out the form. The main guys should totally take a minute or two to plug this effort on the main pod & on twitter. It would probably have a hard time passing once it gets to the ballot but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try like hell.