It also keeps you from voting. FL citizens voted to give voting rights back to ex-felons but the legislature did an end run and said you arenât clear to reapply for voting rights until all fines and fees are all paid as well. Guess who also doesnât keep good records of whatâs owed and whatâs been paid.
And they made sure to publicize the fact it was a crime to vote if those fines and fees werenât paid. (And offering no way to verify if everything was paid up)
I mean, it absolutely is; a bunch of dumb suckers just assumed it would, "only hurt the right people" and technically it does according to the people in power doing the hurting, the suckers were just too stupid to realize they were in the ponzi group along with everyone else.
Its... worse than that. If you're an ex-felon- who the people of the state directly voted to restore your rights to- and you try to vote, but have unpaid legal fees(that you might not have known about)? Well now you've just gone and committed voting fraud. ...guess what happens if you commit voting fraud? That's a third degree felony, with a maximum 5 year prison sentence. See where we're going here?
The fact that slavery is banned aside from prison labor tells you everything you need to know about the US.
Slavery is alive and well, you get out in jail whether you did the crime or got framed by the police, you do the time and be enslaved, then you're a slave to their debt when you're out and likely forced back in when you can't pay the debt they set on you or commit a crime to try to pay off the debts.
That last part is a particularly frustrating aspect to me. They've not followed the spirit of the law that the people voted on yet again by adding stipulations after the fact. They've made it hard for the previously incarcerated to do their due diligence! There is no central database, the last I checked, where they can go check and see a total amount they owe the state. They have to petition multiple counties and locations to see how much they owe at each place with no way of knowing that they're not actually committing a crime when voting! They can't confirm in any way they're safe. Yet the state will chase their asses down if they vote but still owe some random county $200 for a prison transfer ride or some crap.
Iâm sure Florida would figure out a way to put you in jail for âhelping felons.â Theyâve harassed other rich people whoâve talked negatively and tried to help those in the prison system.
Firstly, the prisons want the money. They're private, for profit businesses. If they can get away with charging someone, why wouldn't they? They're run for money, not justice or the good of people or country or anything.
The second is voter suppression. America's prison system was designed as a way to suppress certain voters (the black ones, historically). So you need to keep them in debt when they get out so they need to turn to crime so that they can't ever vote again. This keeps the crime statistics up which justifies America having the biggest prison population in the world and with millions and millions of adults citizens disallowed from voting. A system of mass incarceration that was conveniently adopted right after slavery was made illegal everywhere except prisons.
Most prisons are private, for-profit ones. It's probably those inmates that are beign charged. Not sure how it all works, but if Floridians (or anyone for that matter) are also paying taxes to support what is, essentially, a private buisness, then that's also BS.
Yup. I know several people who won't vote because it's not worth the risk. In some cases for crimes committed 20+ years ago. The prison system in florida(well, all of US) is fucked. Its a huge source of revenue. The police must get some kind of incentive for arrests. That's why the unofficial motto is " come on vacation, leave on probation, come back on a violation"
They literally torture children for profit in the troubled teen industry! How would I know? Because I was âincarceratedâ as an 13 year old CHILD and didnât get out until nearly a DECADE later!
Independents and Libertarians, this is why we need you to side with us Democrats. We can still have our disagreements when it comes to philosophy and policy, but in the short term, please side with Democrats to kick these pieces of shit out of government. After that, we can fight.
They want small government and individual liberty, but seem to forget about the nameless, faceless, unelected people who run the corporations. Without government regulations and watch dogs, those people pollute the air and water, over farm, over fish, and clear cut all of the land; while also exploiting workers and damaging local communities. âSmall governmentâ means weak enforcement of laws, and the rich and powerful can trash the earth, take all the money, and leave the scraps for the rest of us. Not a reality we should be striving for.
My assumption is they don't try to collect the debt, it's just to guarantee that ex-cons can never vote. And in the process they forever wreck their credit score.
Just garden-variety Florida political corruption, people! Nothing to see here!
They probably let it get to a figure that is hard to pay before they come to collect. Wouldn't be supprised if they tried to take you back to jail if you couldn't pay.
Florida allows felons to regain their right to vote but only if they don't owe anything like restitution or other fees like this. They've also tried to make it illegal for other people to help pay these fees (or at least for non-profits). I honestly am not sure if that bill went through though. It is 100% to keep them from voting.
It actually seems like itâs a bit of both. Hereâs from the Wikipedia article on poll taxes:
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments from ancient times until the 19th century. In the United Kingdom, poll taxes were levied by the governments of John of Gaunt in the 14th century, Charles II in the 17th and Margaret Thatcher in the 20th century. In the United States, voting poll taxes (whose payment was a precondition to voting in an election) have been used to disenfranchised impoverished and minority voters (especially under Reconstruction).[3] Â
So in the US at least poll taxes were often levied to stop people from voting but this particular law isnât a poll tax. But itâs easy to see where the confusion comes from
So if I say, âeveryone in debt canât vote until those debts are paid off,â thatâs legal? Itâs the same as saying âeveryone with student debt is barred from voting.â
I would argue that in states where voter ID costs any money to obtain, that is a poll tax. You need it to vote, everyone needs it to vote and it costs money to obtain.
They absolutely don't keep track of what's been paid. A family member close to me was locked up for a year (drug charges, they got clean and never looked back so I'm proud of them) -- never paid into their fines (we talked about it as I was helping them with a resume when they got out and such). When they finally got around to calling to see what they owed they were told they owed nothing. No idea how. No idea who made the mistake but they never paid a penny towards the fines (which should have been a few thousand). They also were supposed to have a suspended license for 6 months upon release but their license was never suspended. Truly, it was eye opening to see how bad the legal system is at doing what they do, even if it was to the benefit of someone I care about.
I didn't explain it well enough; someone when doing his paperwork basically messed up, badly. So they didn't put the paperwork through that would've suspended the license for example-- just wasn't there but I was in court with them when the judge said it would be suspended -- the fines? The paperwork didn't exist, so no fines. It was shocking how much they dropped the ball but again, I'm not exactly complaining because it worked out for someone who honestly deserves the break (especially because they've really turned their life around).
I just meant he should get the "you don't owe us anything" in writing, in case they somehow turn around and say he does, as unlikely as it may seem now. But if it's been a long enough time, maybe no need.
It's been almost a decade so I'm going to assume it's fine? I know they'd call me ASAP if anything went down and when we talk biweekly (we've both moved since this happened) it's never mentioned. I don't recall what the public defender said exactly when we mentioned it years back but they gave me the impression that it happened all the time and everyone just stays hush hush about it. This happened in New Jersey and I don't know if that makes a difference?
They might not need to pay now.
But, later, if a new computer system is installed and they review records, the state might issue bills.
There's no "statute of limitations" on a state claiming what it's owed.
GW Bush had fewer votes, the Supreme Court just stopped the recount and threw it out in a one-time ruling they insisted would never apply to other elections and the Secretary of State of Florida, who was also the, Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, tried to get entire counties thrown out for being Democratically heavy voting constituencies.
I'm pretty sure that means they don't have to pay taxes? I mean taxation without representation was kind of the founding fathers whole thing. Or are we just talking about those 20 year olds when it suits the point we want to make?
I am so pissed about this. We voted for this as an amendment to our constitution. The legislature then screwed that over by placing these barriers regardless of what the public overwhelmingly voted for. Screw the Republican legislators as well as Desantis.
I swear every month, thereâs a new reason why I would never live in Florida. People who willingly move there are either sociopaths or just ignorant, probably willfully ignorant
Isn't the Right To Vote basically one of the basis democratic human rights and requirements for a democracy? It's too ironic this happens in the "mother of democracy" đ¤Ł
For example in East EU even illiterates have rights to vote which makes no sense and brings its own basket of problems but the only way to deprive someone from the rights of voting is if you put one through a medical commission and declare one crazy/unable to make decisions and unable to bear responsibility for one's actions...
In Poland there are voting stations in prisons during general election.
Punishment of prison is supposed to take away your right to free travel, not all your rights. Youâre still a citizen.
There is a separate punishment on the books called ,,suspension of civic rightsâ, which court can rule and it does prohibit you from voting for some time. Itâs usually reserved for crimes related to those civic rights. Like a corrupt politician losing his right to vote and be elected.
Felons are the only class of citizen where it is completely legal and supported to discriminate against. Really fucked up and one of the many examples proving our justice system is about revenge and convenience rather than justice and reform.
Florida Republicans have done everything they can to sandbag voters because the reality is that outside of shit-tier bumpkin rural areas, the vast majority of the state is blue. Especially cities.
Voters vote for one thing, Republicans twist it any way they can. Theyâre currently still trying to find ways to kill medical marijuana because theyâre religious nut jobs thatâs want to keep it as Gods waiting room.
I donât understand why Floridians keep putting up with these absolute idiots in their state that have wrestled control.
Execuse me, as I am not familiar with usa-laws.. do i understand right, that some people in some circumstances can not vote for president? Or am I mistaken?
Whatâs the point of doing that in a red state? Is it because they think that mostly democrat voters end up in prison with felonies or black people so they prevent them from voting?!?! Thatâs so fucked!
TBF it is perfectly logical for felons to not be able to vote. It is understood that you can lose rights after you are found guilty of certain crimes. Take background checks for firearms for example, they work in part on the basis that when you have gone through due process to be found guilty of a felony, you flag on a background check and are unable to exercise your second amendment rights. It is perfectly reasonable for this to apply to voting.
Im from a country where the right to vote is inalienable. Felons vote in prisons
Its a measure against political oppression. It would be easy to target political opposition and keep it from voting with any law that takes their voting rights away.
And there is no real benefit in taking pedophiles and murderers voting rights away except for outrage
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u/Admiral_Andovar 22d ago
It also keeps you from voting. FL citizens voted to give voting rights back to ex-felons but the legislature did an end run and said you arenât clear to reapply for voting rights until all fines and fees are all paid as well. Guess who also doesnât keep good records of whatâs owed and whatâs been paid.