JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This year, as many as 1.4 million disenfranchised voters in Florida will have a chance to cast a ballot for president.
Convicted felons who have fulfilled their sentence, including paying any fines and restitution, are eligible to register and vote.
Amendment 4 restored voting rights to ex-convicts and does not allow rights to be restored to someone convicted of murder or sexual assault.
Jacksonville University Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Michael Pomante said with the register-to-vote deadline in three days, it is unlikely that there will be a huge felon voter turnout.
“I don’t think expanding the franchise to felons it is going to be the determining factor in a switch in party control of the state,” Pomante said.
Hundreds of thousands of convicted felons have not paid fines and restitution, meaning they still cannot vote.
But Mark Krancer, a convicted felon who turned his life around, is registered and ready to vote in November.
“It will be very fulfilling to me to be able to exercise that right now that I have it back,” Krancer said.
Pomante said a vast majority of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters are Black, which could have a big impact on future elections, specifically for the Democratic party.
“African Americans vote- or actually support democratic candidates at approximately 90 percent,” Pomante said.
As for 2020, he said that more than 150,000 new voters would need to vote Democrat for Florida’s outcome to be blue in this election if the numbers mirror 2016′s outcome when President Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton.