Federal Judge Rules Voting Is a ‘Fundamental Right’ in Case That Could Decide 2020 Election

Florida Lifetime Felon Disenfranchisement Law Is Unconstitutional

Florida. It is a state so closely divided and with so many Electoral College votes many look to it to decide presidential elections. With nearly 21 million people the Sunshine state has the third highest population in the U.S. In 2016 Florida’s 29 electoral votes went to Donald Trump, but only by a margin of 112,911 votes. In 2000, it all came down to Florida, and George W. Bush was granted the White House by a margin of just 537 votes.

Thursday night a federal judge ruled that voting is a “fundamental right” and felons in Florida cannot be deprived of it under the current system.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Florida’s lifetime ban on felons voting is unconstitutional, violating both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

“Florida’s vote restoration process unfairly relies on the personal support of Gov. Rick Scott,” The Miami Herald reports the court ruled. Governor Scott, a Republican, has greatly curtailed voting rights overall. 

“In Florida, elected, partisan officials have extraordinary authority to grant or withhold the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people without any constraints, guidelines, or standards,” Judge Walker wrote, as Mother Jones reports. “The question now is whether such a system passes constitutional muster. It does not.” 

According to the Sentencing Project, more than one in four of those who have lost the right to vote (27 percent) live in Florida.

Less than two weeks ago a ballot measure to allow Florida citizens to decide if non-violent felons should have their voting rights restored gained enough signatures to appear on November’s ballot. That is projected to allow 1.2 million more people to vote, if it passes in November.

Among Governor Scott’s tactics were closing polling places and reducing early voting.

A 2013 study found that long lines in the 2012 election discouraged 201,000 people from voting.

Republicans tend to do better when fewer people vote, and historically have worked hard to curtail voting rights.

Image by Erik (HASH) Hersman via Flickr and a CC license