Agenda Item Name:
Title
Restoration of Voting Rights for Ex-Felons
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Presenter:
Gina Peebles, 352-538-8265
Description:
Update on Restoration of Voting Rights for Ex-Felons
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Hear update and provide additional direction to staff, if desired.
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Prior Board Motions:
July. 9, 2019 - refer this matter to the Supervisor of Elections to staff and bring back an analysis on how this effects Alachua County residents including their fees and what other counties or groups are doing state wide to address this issue to facilitate the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons, then have a policy meeting at a later date (5:0).
Dec. 10, 2019 - there may only be a few fees that the County could waive. Staff to continue working on the matter to bring back to the Board as a presentation at a public meeting to discuss what has been learned and where the County may be able to waive fees (5:0).
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
N/A
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Background:
Per the attached news article of Jan. 17, 2020, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that convicted felons must pay off fines before voting. However, the 11th Circuit Court’s trial will determine the final outcome.
The County Attorney’s Office has provided an update of the state and federal legislation in a memo, attached.
The Clerk’s Office indicated this topic is being discussed by the Clerks on a state-wide basis to try and address concerns across the board on how to handle this issue equitably.
At this point, they have determined that, for the purpose of restoring voting rights only, the amounts shown on the judgment or imposed at judgment must be paid for purposes of completing the financial obligation portion of a sentence. That eliminates collection fees and interest and some other post judgment fees such as driver license reinstatement fees.
As for compromising the base amounts on the judgment, they are not aware of any fines or fees that the County could waive after the fact. Waiving or reducing amounts on the judgment would need to be done by court order. They are not aware of any other equitable methods the County has available for reducing amounts on the judgment.
Lastly, looking forward prospectively the Board could consider repealing ordinances that are currently in place that add fees to criminal violations. This action would reduce fees on future court ordered judgments, but an analysis would need to be done as to the funding impacts of such changes.
The Supervisor of Elections indicated that currently, there is an on-going law suit in Tallahassee pertaining to a statute enacted by HB 7066 with stricter requirements, which was found to be unconstitutional. Until the law suit is decided, the Supervisor of Elections Offices around the state will continue to use the previous voter registration form, which had few (more general) questions. That same law suit names ~20 plaintiffs that have outstanding fines, which they argue is not part of their sentence, therefore, they have been precluded from removal from the roles.
Our local Supervisor of Elections office assumes what the applicant has reported is true and correct and they do not investigate the information provided. However, the State is charged to investigate and will notify the local Supervisor of Elections office in the event that a registration is received for a person who has not had their voting rights restored. Our local SOE will then send them a letter allowing up to 30 days to provide documentation that their voting rights have been restored. If they are unable to produce the documentation, or miss the deadline, they are removed from the voter registry roles. The Supervisor of Elections office has mailed letters to potential felons, but not based on their obligation of fines/fees.