6:27
“The punishment visits the felon at each and every election,” the 11th Circuit’s decision read. “Felons who are unable to pay (and who have no reasoned prospect of being able to pay) will remain barred from voting, repeatedly and indefinitely, while for those who can pay, the punishment will immediately come to an end.”
According to Danielle Lang, an attorney with Campaign Legal Center who argued on behalf of the 17 plaintiffs in front of the 11th Circuit, the United States is a country that believes in second chances.
“It was really heartening to see the 11th Circuit unanimously kind of grasp that that’s what is at the heart of this case, and reject the idea that we, in America in 2020, are going to decide who gets to vote based on, you know, how much is in your pocket book,” said Lang.
But this preliminary injunction isn’t the end of the legal battle, especially since it only applied to the 17 plaintiffs. There will be a trial in April and there is also a pending class action lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the governor said he would appeal the 11th Circuit Court’s decision.
Until then, some advocates, public defenders, and prosecutors from across the state of Florida are trying to help register returning citizens, but this can be an arduous process.
The modification process
“That bill, [SB 7066], basically says that [if] a person has any legal financial obligation, that they can petition the court to relieve those financial obligations,” Desmond Meade of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a third-party apolitical organization, told ABC News. “And the courts can do so by either waving the financial obligation or converting them to community service hours.”
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/florida-voting-rights-01-ap-jt-200219_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
According to Meade and several elected public officials, any former felon in Florida, who doesn’t have a disqualifying offense and can’t afford to pay his fees or fines, can go into any courthouse in Florida and request a modification to his original sentence.
The process is complex. According to Martinez, the returning citizen first needs to reach out to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Then, the FRRC will contact the public defender’s office, which will investigate the returning citizen’s file. His or her sentence will be identified, and if fees and fines are associated and the person is unable to pay, the office will reach out to a pro bono attorney, who will file a motion in court to modify the original sentence. In Miami-Dade, there are three judges specifically in charge of reviewing these types of cases.
“This is not something where a non-lawyer can easily figure it out,” Martinez said, which is why his county, along with the three others, have created these unique systems where local jurisdictions have put in place processes to help returning citizens modify their original sentences..
Modifying former felons' sentences doesn't mean their fines go away. For returning citizens living in Palm Beach County who owe fines, they will still be required to pay a fee, but paying that fee won’t be a requirement in order to vote.
In Miami-Dade County, Martinez estimates that there are 150,000 former felons, 80% of whom would need to go through this modification process in order to vote. But only 35 returning citizens have gone through this process, according to Martinez. He is expecting another 250 modification requests.
Martinez said these low numbers can be partially blamed on the confusion many former felons have about the process, due to the various lawsuits, preliminary injunctions, rulings, statements by the governor and the different processes within each county.
Blue counties v. Red counties
“It should not matter what county you live in to obtain the right to vote,” said Dave Aronberg, the Palm Beach State Attorney. “But right now, it seems that you're having an easier time to register to vote in blue counties than red counties.”
Out of the 67 counties in Florida, only four -- Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward, and Hillsborough -- have created processes within their local jurisdictions to help returning citizens with the modification process, and even within these four counties the processes vary from county to county.
Desmond Meade, president of the FRRC, who works with local jurisdictions to create systems like that in Miami-Dade, told ABC News he is talking to more conservative counties to help them create similar processes.
“We are continuing to encourage them to embrace it – the legislation” Desmond said.
According to Meade, public defenders and states attorneys, a prime argument for re-enfranchisement ultimately winds up being public safety and a pathway out of recidivism.
\"You do not create a safer society when you create a permanent underclass of society who are told that no matter what they do in life, they will never achieve equality ever again,” Aronberg of Palm Beach County told ABC News, saying his top priority as a state attorney is public safety. “That's the quickest way to recidivism. That's the quickest way to resentment, and to create a situation where returning citizens commit more crimes, and work against society, rather than be part of it.”
But Gary Daughtry, Sr. lives in Polk County, one of the counties that has not yet created a system that would easily allow him to modify his sentence in order to register to vote. ABC News reached out to Polk County but did not immediately hear back.
“There is nothing more fundamentally American than the right to vote,” said Martinez.
Daughtry agrees, saying all he wants to do is vote to re-elect President Trump in November.
“The man has done more for this country than any other president in history,” said Daughtry. “So, I’m going with a sure thing.”
While Daughtry hasn’t yet been able to register himself, he helped register his fiance, Henrietta Callowhill. She said she voted for the first time in her life last year.
“I’m happy to be on the straight and narrow,” said Daughtry. “And I think it’s only right to let me vote.”
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