Florida Sets Up Formerly Incarcerated People to Vote — Then Arrests Them
Southern Poverty Law Center, August 11, 2023: Florida Sets Up Formerly Incarcerated People to Vote — Then Arrests Them
“In a country where wealth and friends in high places can go a long way in making legal problems disappear, John Boyd Rivers has neither of those advantages.
“He and his wife barely scrape by in Alachua County, Florida, raising eight children on his unreliable income as a mason.
“On May 16, Rivers, 45, stood before a Gainesville court and explained why he thought he had the right to vote in the 2020 presidential election after a representative of the county elections office helped him register and he received a Florida voter ID card.
“‘I informed him that I was in [the Alachua County jail] on a violation of probation and he [elections official] told me that as long as I didn’t have a sex crime or murder charge, I would be eligible to get my rights restored,’ Rivers told the jury.
“He was among 41 formerly incarcerated people, also known as returning citizens, who were arrested in 2022 and 2023 for voter fraud in Florida following the 2020 election. Nearly half took plea deals, fearful of facing the unknown of a jury trial and guilty verdict. To date, only Rivers and one other have been tried in court. He drew a split verdict: not guilty of knowingly registering to vote while ineligible but guilty of willful, fraudulent voting.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative lawmakers have launched continued attacks on voting rights that have made the state’s historically inequitable criminal justice and voting rights systems worse. Since DeSantis’ election in 2018, the Florida Legislature has passed the most sweeping voter suppression laws of any state. DeSantis has proposed additional voter suppression measures for 2024 and continues to ramp up spending for his Office of Election Crimes and Security – from $1.2 million in 2022-2023 to $2.2 million in 2023-2024. And he’s added $1 million in new spending for the establishment of a Statewide Voter Fraud and Assistance Hotline.
“‘Instead of fulfilling its role to enable Floridians to vote, the state has made it more difficult, which is anti-democratic,’ said Courtney O’Donnell, a senior staff attorney for voting rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
Additional reading:
The Sentencing Project, January 2023: Florida Bans Voting Rights of Over One Million Citizens
National Conference of State Legislatures, April 6, 2023: Brief: Felon Voting Rights
NPR, March 1, 2023: More states appear poised to expand voting access for people who were incarcerated
