Bill Cotterell

Capital Curmudgeon

Florida legislators always look for ways to get around constitutional mandates imposed by the voters, but the state is finding it uncommonly difficult to thwart the public will regarding restoration of voting rights for felons.

And in a surprising plot twist of the customary post-election scheming, the ex-cons are getting some help from state attorneys. In at least four big counties, prosecutors who sent them to prison are trying to help their re-integration into society.

You might say they’re finding ways around the Legislature’s attempt to find ways around the public’s mandate. There are afternoon soap operas with fewer implausible developments than the real-life implementation of Amendment 4 has given us.

Florida used to have a virtually insurmountable ban on felons voting. They could get their rights restored, but it was a long and extremely difficult process. The governor and Cabinet could turn them down for any reason, or no reason.

So a petition campaign put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to restore voting rights, except for murderers and sex offenders, and about 71% of the voters approved it.

The Republican-run legislature then passed implementing legislation and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it. The bill specified completion of a felon’s sentence meant meeting all “legal financial obligations” – including fines, court fees and restitution to victims. It’s estimated that about four out of five newly released prison inmates can’t pay, because there’s not exactly a thriving job market out there for ex-cons.

And trying to nullify an amendment created by public petition is reflexive for Republican legislators. They did it with the anti-gerrymandering amendments voters imposed in 2010. They did it with a mandate to acquire more conservation lands. They’ve repeatedly tried to evade limits on class sizes in public schools. It would have been surprising if they had not tried to mess with voting-rights restoration, considering the politics involved.

It’s estimated that about 1.4 million former prisoners will be re-enfranchised by Amendment 4. It’s safe to assume that very, very few of them will be Republicans. That’s why Republicans who run the Legislature – and DeSantis, who signed the new law – don’t want them voting.

That’s also why the Democrats, who thrive on accusing the GOP of various voter-suppression schemes, were so quick to come to the defense of impoverished felons who can’t pay fines and court costs. The ACLU brought a federal lawsuit, arguing that the legislative action amounts to an old-fashioned poll tax.

DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court on Aug. 9 for its advice on whether “completion of all terms of sentence” means settling all financial matters like fees, fines and victim restitution. The justices (three of whom were appointed by DeSantis right after he took office) have not indicated whether they’ll answer his inquiry, and whatever they say will have no legal impact on the federal lawsuit.

The request is a smart move though, giving cover to proponents of the new law (that is, opponents of felon voting) and maintaining the pretense that this is about implementing a constitutional amendment, rather than bare-knuckle politics. For both sides.

Meanwhile, four state attorneys have added a new wrinkle to the situation. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced last month she wants to set up a “rocket docket” for ex-inmates to petition judges for relief from some financial penalties, possibly converting some fines to community service. Prosecutors in Palm Beach, Broward and Hillsborough Counties are working on their own plans to help prisoners who’ve done their time clear those financial obstacles.

Dave Aronberg, the Palm Beach County state attorney, told the Palm Beach Post inmate re-entry is good for public safety. He said recidivism festers in a “subculture of society that never attains equality,” and voting is part of normalizing lives of offenders.

Jack Campbell, the state attorney for the Big Bend, said he’s monitoring what’s going on in the big counties and consulting “stakeholders” affected by the change, like the clerks of court and county elections supervisors in the six counties of the 2nd Judicial District. He’s also watching that lawsuit in federal court, and the governor’s inquiry of the Florida Supreme Court.

Floridians probably thought it looked pretty simple when they signed petitions and voted on the amendment last year. But legislators and politicians could complicate shoe laces, if they needed to.

Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat Capitol reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this column misspelled the name of Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

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