Currents February 2020 Feb 2020 _Currents web | Page 3

Currents February 2020 3 suppression A fter Floridians approved an initiative to restore vot- ing rights to approximately 1.4 million people with felony convic- tions, Republican lawmakers immediately moved to sabotage the historic effort. The GOP-con- trolled legislature passed a law along party lines that effectively required a poll tax from a majority of those poised to regain their right to vote. The very folks who campaign under the family morals party, whose savior evangelized on the grounds of forgiveness and kindness. Cannot find it in their hearts to aid in the restora- tion of civilized life to people who paid the debt for their crime. Restoration is the foundation upon which a person rejoins nor- malized living and contributes to society. Slate magazine has a take on the efforts for and against. “The GOP’s brazenly partisan measure, however, appears to be backfiring. Democratic counties are taking advantage of a com- promise buried in the statute to give residents their voting rights. Meanwhile, Republican counties are taking a hard line against suf- frage-meaning a substantial majority of Floridians who do manage to register to vote are likely to be Democrats. For more than a year, Florida’s politicians have been embroiled in a fight over Amendment 4, which 65 percent of Florida voters approved in 2018. Amendment 4 abolished a Jim Crow era law that permanently stripped the right to vote from anyone con- victed of a felony. But Florida Republicans quickly kneecapped it, passing a bill that forced indi- viduals to pay all fines and fees associated with their sentences before regaining their voting rights. This legislative assault on Amendment 4 threatened to take away the franchise from more than 1.1 million Floridians; the state is a pioneer of cash register justice, imposing a mind-boggling array of “user fees” on defen- dants to finance its criminal jus- tice system. Following immense backlash from Democrats and civil rights advocates, though, legislators added a conciliatory section to their bill. It allowed courts to modify “the original sen- tencing order to no longer require completion” of the initial sen- tence. In other words, courts can waive fines and fees imposed as part of a sentence. By doing so, courts can clear the way for for- mer felons to complete their sen- tences and immediately become eligible to vote. To implement this section, continued on page 5 > s tOP Y OuR W inDOW L eAk P ROBLeMs Be hu Prepa re rr Fi x you icane d for t r W sea he nO indow son W! Lea ks Dried out gaskets and window stripping will cause window leaks. I have the proper window stripping to repair all types of windows. I also do Screening, Wrol-up Repair and Sliding Glass Doors. e FRe Ates M i est C ALL P AtRiCk Cell no. 954-829-4348 [email protected] FPL independent Participating Contractor 3621 Washington street • hollywood, FL 33021