John,

In 2018, voters across Florida overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative
supported by DFA members nationwide that restored voting rights to most
former felons. Unsurprisingly, the Republican-controlled state legislature
then made a law designed to overturn it by requiring those with felony
convictions to pay their court debts and fees before they can register to
vote.

This law is a modern-day poll tax because it creates financial barriers to
voting that should be deemed unconstitutional.

Sadly, late last week the Supreme Court let this law stand.

We know that this law isn’t just about taking voting rights away from
people with felony convictions. It is also about continuing on with a
racist system of criminal injustice that disproportionately targets Black
people.

Nearly one in four Black voters living in Florida are unable to exercise
their right to vote because of felony disenfranchisement laws.

This racist Florida law criminalizes poverty while also deepening the
inequities within our justice system.

Join us in supporting The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition which has a
fund that helps returning citizens with outstanding fines and fees
complete their sentences and move forward with their lives. Click any of
the buttons below to have your contribution go to those who now have to
pay a poll-tax before they can vote.

DONATE: [link removed]

Requiring citizens to pay a fee before they vote means less affluent
individuals, more often Black and brown, will remain disenfranchised, even
though they have completed their sentences.

Being unable to afford court debts and fees should not be grounds to have
your right to vote taken away indefinitely.

Prior to the Supreme Court's decision to let the law stand, U.S. District
Judge Robert Hinkle called Florida’s law an illegal pay-to-vote system and
said that requiring people with felonies to pay fees in order to vote was
a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban on poll taxes.

While the case will go to the appeals court on Aug. 18th, the same day as
Florida's primary, people who are unable to afford this poll-tax simply
cannot wait for the courts to sort this out.

We have to dismantle the systemic racism and classism that typifies our
system of criminal injustice.

That’s why we’re asking you to donate to the Florida Rights Restoration
Coalition which is working to help those who have completed incarceration
and probation but still have to complete this unnecessary financial
portion of their sentence before they can vote. Your contribution will
have an immediate impact:

DONATE: [link removed]

Thank you for donating today. Anything you are able to contribute will
make a difference right now.

Tre Graves, Campaign Organizer
Democracy for America





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