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Florida Passes Amendment 4, Will Automatically Restore Right To Vote For Felons

WLRN
"Florida believes in second chances" was one of the slogans used by supporters of Amendment 4 during the campaign.

A constitutional amendment that would restore the right for  former felons to vote in Florida passed.

Amendment 4 needed at least 60 percent of votes to pass.

People with felony convictions who complete their sentence and the terms of their release will now automatically have their voting rights restored. 

Florida has never had an automatic restoration process, though many say under Gov. Rick Scott’s administration the steps to have voting right restored grew even more restrictive.

Read more: Here's How Amendment 4 Would Impact Floridians With Felony Convictions

Scott established a five to seven year waiting period before a person can apply to have their rights restored and then the individual would have to plead their case before the state’s clemency board in Tallahassee, made up by the governor and state Cabinet.

Supporters and organizers of Amendment 4 say Florida’s previous system was effectively a way to disenfranchise 1.4 million voters across the state with an arbitrary and cumbersome process.

The constitutional amendment exclude people with murder or sex crime convictions, they would still have to go through the clemency process to have their voters right restored.

Amendment 4 received very little organized opposition.

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