Two of Florida’s election supervisors are backing an initiative to restore voting rights for ex-felons. Broward and Leon County’s supervisors are urging the state supreme court to certify the proposal for the 2018 ballot.
The 2016 election is barely over, and voting rights activists are already thinking about 2018. A ballot initiative restoring voting rights once non-violent felons have served their time behind bars is up for Supreme Court review. Leon County election supervisor Ion Sancho says restoration is a matter of fundamental fairness.
“The latest studies indicate that this has the effect of suppressing 1.6 million African American voters in the state of Florida,” Sancho says, “and in my opinion, this is the worst voter suppression story in the United States of America.”
But the proposal has a long way to go before the ballot. It stands at about 70,000 signatures which means it needs roughly 610,000 more.
