Today’s link is from The New York Times.
Why I think it’s worth sharing: I take the right to vote very seriously. Too many people throughout history have suffered and died for this right for me to blow it off. Since turning 18, I have participated in every single election, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, that I’m eligible to vote in.
So this story caught my eye, particularly given this sentence:
Two years after Floridians voted overwhelmingly for Amendment 4, a landmark ballot measure that restored the franchise for up to 1.4 million people with serious felony convictions, many former felons who could register as voters have not even tried, in part because of perceptions that the hurdles are still too great.
In other words: Florida voters have given the right to vote back to former felons. The voters have spoken. Those who disagree can mount a campaign to repeal Amendment 4, but in the meantime, it’s the law, and it ticks me off that people whose right to vote has been reinstated, by their fellow voters no less, are largely unable to exercise it.
The voter registration deadline in Florida has passed since this story was published, but the issue remains important.
Here’s the story, by Patricia Mazzei.
‘Real Change’: A Race Is On to Register Ex-Felons in Florida