In November, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment to do away with the state’s longtime policy of permanently disenfranchising people with felony convictions. Until Tuesday, people who wanted to vote again had to ask the governor, who had the ultimate power of deciding who got their rights restored. Before Tuesday, Florida’s governors had enormous discretion in how they restored voting rights to people. The voters spoke clearly on this issue, opting for civil rights over the ‘civil death’ of permanent disenfranchisement,” Uggen said. It’s hard to overstate the significance of Amendment 4 ― in Florida and in the national and international movement toward universal suffrage.

Source: Huffington Post January 08, 2019 10:41 UTC