The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that hundreds of thousands of Florida felons who still owe fines and fees may not register to vote, making it unlikely that they will be able to cast ballots in the presidential election, the Washington Post reports. The court agreed with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that the payment of fines and fees is part of felons’ “terms of sentence” and must be satisfied before they can vote. Florida’s registration deadline is Oct. 5. “This is a deeply disappointing decision,” said Paul Smith of the Campaign Legal Center, which challenged the rule. “Nobody should ever be denied their constitutional rights because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees.” The groups that filed suit may still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has declined to overturn a lower-court decision against felons seeking to register.
The decision in the swing state could have implications for the presidential election. In 2016, Donald Trump won Florida by fewer than 120,000 votes, and a recent NBC-Marist poll found that Trump and Democrat Joe Biden are each at 48 percent. The legal fight stems from a constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in 2018 that allowed most felons to register to vote. The measure affected an estimated 1.4 million adults. Thousands began registering to vote starting Jan. 8, 2019, the first day they were eligible. Six months later, DeSantis signed a requirement that all fines and fees owed by felons, such as restitution to victims, must be paid before they could register. “Every court to have analyzed the issue has reached the same conclusion: felons do not have a fundamental right to vote,” said appeals judge Barbara Lagoa. Researchers estimate that 85,000 felons have registered under the amendment.