In 2018, Florida voters restored ex-felons’ voting rights, except for murder and sex felonies (see story here).
The GOP governor and legislature hate that law, but can’t repeal it, because it’s enshrined in the state constitution.
So they first tried whittling it back, by tacking on a requirement that all fines and fees must be paid first. Then Gov. DeSantis, who wants to be president, resorted to intimidation. He installed a band of election cops who went out and arrested 20 ex-felons for voting illegally. Most were shocked at being accused of breaking the law (see story here).
DeSantis held a news conference with great fanfare to crow about the arrests — and send a message to other ex-felon voters. Voting rights groups, of course, raised the alarm. Meanwhile, within days, a judge threw out the charges against one of those arrested (see story here).
The DeSantis administration reacted by giving state corrections officials a form for probationers to sign with the following phrase:
“By signing this letter, you agree that you alone are solely responsible for determining if you are legally able to register to vote, and that you must solely determine if you are lawfully qualified to vote. If someone tells you that you are eligible to vote, you must rely upon your own independent knowledge (as informed by your own attorney if applicable) of your individual circumstances, and not upon the advice of any third parties who may be incorrect or unqualified to interpret your eligibility. You further acknowledge that if you were once lawfully registered to vote, you may later become a disqualified elector and unable to vote, as proscribed by section 4, Article VI, Fla. Const., and section 98.0751, Fla. Stat.”
(See story here.) That’s equivalent to a doctor telling a patient, “You alone are responsible for determining what medications you should take, and if I prescribe a medication that harms you, no action can be taken against my medical license nor can you sue me.”
Determining voter eligibility is always the responsibility of election officials, not least because the law are complicated, but mainly because it’s their job. Nearly everyone relies on what they’re told by official representatives of government agencies, and courts should recognize that fact. The applicant’s duty is to give truthful information on the registration form; nothing in state law requires them to determine their own eligibility and makes them criminally liable if they get it wrong.
If an election office tells someone they’re eligible to vote when they’re not, unless that person lied to the election office, they didn’t commit a crime by voting. That’s like prosecuting a shopper for theft because the cashier incorrectly calculated their change. You can’t make someone a criminal with your mistake. In civil matters, the law has recognized this principle for centuries; it’s called “equitable estoppel” (see definition here). If you lead someone down a garden path, you’re responsible for where they end up.
There’s another reason why the Florida form shouldn’t stand up in court: It doesn’t say who’s ineligible to vote, and therefore isn’t an effective warning (see the actual form here). That’s intentional; the Republicans’ idea is to scare away all ex-felons, including those eligible to vote. It’s an attempt to thwart the will of Florida’s voters, perpetrated by a party that doesn’t believe in democracy.
The form is defective in another respect: All probationers are required to sign it, even those convicted of misdemeanors, who aren’t disqualified from voting. This sure looks like an effort to discourage them from voting, too. And in Florida, it’s not a stretch to spell their identity as B-L-A-C-K.
Why do I say that? Because this is the south, Florida has a history of racial discrimination, and it’s no secret that Republican voter suppression efforts target black voters. I’ve written about it here, here, and here.
Shortly after the 2020 election, I explained that to understand why Republicans believe there was rampant voting fraud, you only have to look at which votes they consider “fraudulent.” As I wrote (here),
“In Michigan, they oppose certifying results from Detroit, in Pennsylvania the results from Philadelphia. They’ve also tried to get courts to throw out hundreds of thousands of votes from those two cities. What do those cities have in common? They’re heavily black. So is Atlanta, Georgia, another state they’re targeting.
“From this, a clear picture emerges: Black votes are ‘fraudulent,’ and letting black people vote is ‘fraud.’ It’s as simple as the fact that 152 years after passage of the 14th amendment, Republicans still don’t look at black people as human beings with rights.
“They fervently believe only white people can vote, and they’re enraged that Biden won those states — and the election — because of votes from Detroit (83% black), Philadelphia (43% black), and Atlanta (51% black) — votes they believe shouldn’t be counted. That is what Republicans mean when they use the word ‘fraud.’ If you still don’t believe this, read this article here.”
The Supreme Court struck down major portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act on the grounds its restrictions on states with a history of racial discrimination were no longer necessary. Florida’s recent antics have proved them wrong.