The State of Disenfranchisement in Florida

Ángel Sánchez from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Danielle Lang from the Campaign Legal Center will join the ACS Yale Student Chapter to discuss Florida’s disenfranchisement scheme, which prevents more than 1.5 million people convicted of felonies from voting. 

In a 2018 referendum, 65% of Florida voters agreed to overturn Florida’s practice of disenfranchisement, but the Florida legislature subverted the will of the people by requiring those newly-eligible voters to first pay off any outstanding court fines or fees, even though the state itself lacks adequate records of what many of them owe. 

The en banc 11th Circuit recently upheld that provision, meaning millions of Floridians are still unable to exercise their right to vote, and may face criminal penalties if they try. Sánchez and Lang will walk us through the state of voting rights in Florida, what is next for the movement to restore voting rights in Florida, and how Yale Law students can be involved.