Supreme Court leaves in place Florida ‘pay-to-vote’ law aimed at felons

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Campaign Legal Center asked the top court to reverse the 11th Circuit’s decision. The groups argued in court papers that most of the 750,000 potential voters could not afford what they owed and that many had no way of knowing how much they were required to pay. Paul Smith, vice president of the Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement on Thursday that the Supreme Court’s order was “deeply disappointing.” “Florida’s voters spoke loud and clear when nearly two-thirds of them supported rights restoration at the ballot box in 2018,” Smith said. “The Supreme Court stood by as the Eleventh Circuit prevented hundreds of thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees.”

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