Imagine being a black person with college or business debt and you see this billionaire rewarding all these felons. I think I'd be voting Trump, out of spite.
Then the GOP down there did some maneuvering and introduced this “pay off all debts first” clause which I believe is fairly unpopular down there (although I cannot cite anything for that).
Bloomberg is rectifying what many consider to be a wrong down there and reenfranchising (not a word) these 32,000 voters with this gesture.
Given the incredible disparities within our criminal justice system I sincerely doubt most Black people are sitting there mad that the right to vote is being restored to these persons, especially since apparently the idea is popular enough that the referendum passed.
There are many organizations, governments, banks which buy and dissolve debts.
Even John Oliver does it.
When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
Money well spent.
The Politico article is more reality-based. https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/09/22/blo...
It's not clear if Bloomberg also paid restitution, money owed to victims, in addition to fines and legal debts.
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One my besties ran our state's version of FL Rights Restitution Coalition. https://floridarrc.com They successfully updated our laws for process to reenfranchise ex-felons, which was widely acknowledged as even worse than Florida (at the time).
Even more ridiculous than the fines and legal debts is the bureaucracy. Of the 1,000s of ex-felons who'd squared up every year, less than 20 were able to navigate the red tape to actually restore their right to vote.
FWIW, voting rights should never be contingent on fines, debts, restitution. That's flat out unconstitutional, just like poll taxes. Many (most?) states don't even disenfranchise felons. The states that do disenfranchise are whackadoodles.