After numerous court battles, the fight over Florida’s controversial new policy to allow felons to vote has come to a halt in the federal court system, as reported by The Hill.
The restoration of convicted felons’ right to vote first came about in a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment in the 2018 election. Since then, the state GOP has fought back against the legalization of this law, attempting to place roadblocks in the way of the policy’s implementation. One such effort was the attempt to require by law that all felons pay back any outstanding legal fees before they are allowed to vote again.
A district court eventually ruled against this additional policy, allowing 17 convicted felons to vote despite having not paid their legal fees and court-ordered fines. Subsequently, the Florida state government, led by Governor Ron Desantis (R-Fla.) and Secretary of State Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), attempted to bring the case before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Tuesday, the three-judge court ruled that it will not review the case, thus leaving the effort to overturn the law in a sort of legal limbo. Governor DeSantis’s office issued a statement declaring that he was “disappointed in the denial of a rehearing before the full court. None the less, the case is going to full trial in three weeks.”
The felons are being represented by the far-left American Civil Liberties Union, as well as other “civil rights groups,” which celebrated the decision and falsely accused Florida of trying to make “a person’s right to vote contingent on their ability to pay.”