Florida Senate President Bill Galvano believes the amendment is self-executing and already is being implemented around the state, so specific action by the Legislature isn’t required. | AP Photo Former felons freed to vote in March mayoral races

Floridians with felony convictions will be able to vote in key mayoral races next month in Jacksonville and Tampa, where election officials have reported an increase in voter registration applications after a constitutional amendment passed in November.

Election supervisors in Duval and Hillsborough counties said voter registration applications were up last month after Amendment 4 took effect Jan. 8. The measure aims to restore voting rights to 1.5 million felons who have completed their criminal sentences, excluding those convicted of murder or sexual offenses.


Hillsborough County received 600 more voter registration applications this January than last, and roughly 1,300 more than January 2017, according to Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer.

In Duval County, elections supervisor Mike Hogan said about 100 people registered to vote on Jan. 8, but he hasn’t seen much of an uptick since. It’s not known how many new applications were a result of Amendment 4.

The addition of 1.5 million potential voters to the rolls in the country’s biggest swing state could be a key factor in the 2020 presidential elections, but it’s not clear in what direction. Amendment 4 won 64 percent of the vote statewide, but notched even higher winning margins in heavily blue areas such as Broward Country. Voters in the Republican enclaves of Lee and Collier counties, by contrast, approved the ballot measure with 55 percent of the vote.

“I think a lot of us are taking the stance that we worked too long and too hard to just give our votes away to one party or another,” said Neil Volz, political director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which pushed last fall’s ballot amendment.

Volz, a Republican and former felon himself, said the implementation of Amendment 4 has been “a really special moment” for those affected.

“Every day I have somebody sending me a picture or a text of themselves getting their voter card,” Volz said in an interview.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the amendment requires legislative language before it can be enacted. But Republican House and Senate leaders argue that no such legislation is needed.

Florida Senate President Bill Galvano believes the amendment is self-executing and already is being implemented around the state, so specific action by the Legislature isn’t required, said his spokesperson, Katherine Betta.

But Hogan and Latimer agreed that some procedural changes are necessary to ensure the amendment is properly executed.

“The state just needs to do a little bit more due diligence and check with the Department of Corrections to make sure these people have completed all terms of their sentence,” Latimer said.

Currently, the Secretary of State is in charge of verifying individual eligibility and relaying information to elections supervisors about who is authorized to vote.

Department of State spokesperson Sarah Revell said the agency is complying with the amendment and "there has been no delay in implementation."

The Tampa mayoral election will take place March 5. The Jacksonville mayoral election is March 19.