A key nonpartisan campaign point was the idea of second chances. Advocates released a series of videos — Mr. Ivey starred in one — that presented the state’s ban as unfair to taxpaying Floridians who had criminal records.

“We believe that when a debt is paid, it’s paid,” said Neil G. Volz, the political director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. “People could unite behind that.”

Mr. Volz, a former Republican lobbyist, spoke of his own criminal record after pleading guilty in the 2006 Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Those who won the right to vote on Tuesday said the change made them feel far more connected.

“Now I feel like a part of society,” said Clarence Office Jr., 61, a former addict with a long criminal record who has been out of trouble for a decade and is now getting his master’s degree in public administration. “I wanted to voice my opinion, but I couldn’t. It didn’t matter what I felt. Now it does.”

Mr. Office works at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Miami, where he does outreach with military veterans accused of crimes. He said many veterans would return from war, get into a fight or become involved with drugs and suddenly find out they could no longer vote.

“They’d say, ‘I can serve my country, go fight in Vietnam, go to Afghanistan, risk my life, come here and get in trouble over marijuana, and even though I did all these other things right, I can’t vote.’”

Karen L. Leicht, 61, who served 28 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, said it was relatively easy for someone who has done a crime to be labeled a felon. She prefers to call them “returning citizens.”