Former President Donald Trump has not lost his voting rights in Florida despite his felony convictions in New York, and his vote this fall "will be one of millions that demonstrate Florida is now a solid Republican state," according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven't yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction," DeSantis said in a post on X Friday, one day after a New York City jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover a $130,000 payment made by his former attorney Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
According to Florida's Department of State website, a felony conviction in another state means a person is not eligible to vote in Florida unless that persons' conviction means he or she can't vote in the state where the conviction occurred, reports NBC Miami.
In New York, a law was passed in 2021 that restores the right to vote when a person is released from incarceration, whether or not they are on parole or other post-release supervision.
Further, voters in New York don't lose their right to vote unless they're serving time in jail, and people whose jail sentences are stayed during appeal procedures don't lose their voting rights, according to Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections.
"Former President Trump would therefore need to be actually incarcerated during the time of the November election to lose his ability to vote," Neil Volz, the deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and an expert in felon laws, which advocated for the felon voting rights amendment commented.
The ACLU of Florida also notes in its guide to voting rights for felons that if a person is "convicted outside of Florida, their voting rights are governed by the state where they were convicted."
"Given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair," DeSantis added in his X post.
Meanwhile, DeSantis slammed the verdict after it was announced Thursday as the "culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America — all in an effort to 'get' Donald Trump."
The case involved "alleged misdemeanor business records violations" from almost 10 years ago, and the fact that it was brought is a "testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City," said DeSantis, who had been campaigning against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination before dropping out in January.
"This is especially true considering this same district attorney routinely excuses criminal conduct in a way that has endangered law-abiding citizens in his jurisdiction," said DeSantis about District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
"It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law," he added. "If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict. In America, the rule of law should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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