Discussion: Florida Officially Passes Law Requiring Ex-Felons To Pay Off Huge Fees To Vote

This is why we have democracy. Many Republican voters supported the referendum. Many of the ones who did will not be happy that the legislators ignored the vote. It won’t turn most of them into Democrats, but this action will weaken their attachment to the Republican Party.

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If, by “modern day,” you mean “since the day Bill Clinton had the unmitigated temerity to defeat a Republican president Republicans didn’t even like very much merely by getting the most votes,” then yes.

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Will wonders never cease?

Republicans finally found a tax they enthusiastically support!

Truly, these are the End Times…

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A user fee at that.

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At least some of the gerrymandering is falling. Let’s see what John Roberts does since the other Supremes offset each other.

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Everything old is new again!

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“”…excepting those convicted on murder or felony sex crimes charges — to get back the right to vote after they’ve served their time and paid restitution and court costs…""

I fail to see why the distinction for murder or felony sex crimes. I thought they were being released because they ‘paid their debt’ to society. Shouldn’t they have their voting rights restored?

And, did (does) sentencing ever include anything about post incarceration fees, fines or restitution? If it is not part of the sentence for the crime, it should not be imposed by any entity after time is served for that crime.

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Look, I hate to sound like a simpleton here, but how is this not a f*cking poll tax?

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These fees are probably not dischargeable in bankruptcy. And as the Florida Supreme Court is now 7-0 GOP, I doubt that they will hold this legislation invalid under the Florida Constitution. Same goes for the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court and the federal Constitution.

Remember - elections have consequences.

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“The democracy has a hundred exuberant good qualities; the democracy has only one outstanding sin—it is not democratic.”
~G.K. Chesterton

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If Roberts holds that there were improper gerrymanders, he will probably delay relief until after the 2020 census. And he will make sure the census is rigged.

And what about every other Floridian who has unpaid taxes, fines, and fees?

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I don’t know the specifics, but my understanding is that that was the price to be paid for successful polling. If people knew that non-violent drug users were getting their rights back, the polling showed that the referendum passed overwhelmingly. But if they heard that dangerous killers and rapists were getting the right to vote restored, it was not nearly so popular.

So the people who wrote it carved out that exception, despite the fact that some people, like you, pointed out the double standard and of course, the people who fell into that category weren’t happy, largely because they feared that once that had passed, it would never be revisited and they would remain forever disenfranchised as a result. Since it would be hard to pass a referendum wherein just the “killers and rapists” are given their rights back when the non-violent people have already been reenfranchised.

The one silver lining to the FLGOP’s meddling with the law: maybe this will lead to blowback and put the Democrats back in power in FL and allow them to craft a new law/referendum that isn’t logically inconsistent. If there’s enough of a blue wave in FL, they might be in a position to give all the felons their rights back unconditionally once they’ve finished their sentences. (Though some states permit felons to vote while they are in prison. There’s nothing in the Constitution that forbids felons from voting. Disenfranchisement was just another tool in the voter suppression toolkit to counteract the effects of Emancipation and Reconstruction.)

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I was thinking about the Ripon lot who created the party and saw it through the first round of success.

They’re obviously dead, but even if they could have a say, the GOP’s founders wouldn’t be Republicans in this current incarnation.

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A frightening admission, or perhaps a threat, from a well known conservative, David Frum:

“If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”

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Republican Party Platform, 2018

The people shall have what Republicans say they may have.
Now, about your Social Security benefit…

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That’s about the starkest way I’ve heard it put, but it’s true.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Thanks for the link : - )

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I am coming to believe that the GOP hates everyone who is not one of them.

Where is Charles Dickens now that we really need him to chronicle all this BS?

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He’s dead. But he’s alive.

Time is money. Money is now speech.

But it still buys time too.

: - )

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Call it what you want, it is voter supression. It is a common tactic of those desperate to keep power when they realize demographic reality will soon leave them powerless.

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