Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Florida voter forms still say felons cannot register to vote

Clarence Singleton, Florida felon eligible to register to vote

Voting rights advocates are complaining that Florida's voter registration forms are not clear that convicted felons who have completed their sentences, like Clarence Singleton, are automatically cleared to register and vote.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Voting rights activists in Florida are complaining to election officials because they believe the state's voter registration forms are not clear that convicted felons who have completed their sentences can now register to vote.

This is the latest dispute over implementation of the Amendment 4 ballot initiative passed by 65 percent of Florida voters last fall, revising the state's constitution to automatically restore voting rights for convicted felons.

Florida's registration forms and online registration system state that felons "cannot register until your right to vote is restored" – a continuation of the language used on the form prior to approval of the amendment.

Elsewhere — and less prominently — the forms do note that voting rights are restored upon completion of all terms of a sentence including parole and probation "pursuant to section 4, Art. VI of the Florida Constitution."

That's the change made by the ballot initiative, but advocates argue not many people are going to understand the legal reference.


Common Cause of Florida, the League of Women Voters and others have written letters to the Florida Department of State complaining about how changes in the registration forms were handled.

The Florida Legislature already stirred controversy when it passed legislation to implement the voter initiative that requires that ex-felons pay all fines and fees in order to have their voting rights restored.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

After that law was passed, officials discovered that it is difficult to determine whether a person has paid all the needed fines and fees because the information is maintained by a number of agencies.

A working group created to make recommendations to the Legislature on how that information should be collected met for the final time this week and is now working on a draft report.

In another related development, a hearing is scheduled for Monday at federal court in Florida on a request by several civil rights groups to temporarily block the legislation.

Advocates have equated the requirement with the now banned requirement that voters pay a poll tax. The poll tax was used, mainly in the South, to prevent poor, mostly black citizens from being able to register and vote.

Read More

Independent Voters Gain Ground As New Mexico Opens Primaries
person in blue denim jeans and white sneakers standing on gray concrete floor
Photo by Phil Scroggs on Unsplash

Independent Voters Gain Ground As New Mexico Opens Primaries

With the stroke of a pen, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham enfranchised almost 350,000 independent voters recently by signing a bill for open primaries. Just a few years ago, bills to open the primaries were languishing in the state legislature, as they have historically across the country. But as more and more voters leave both parties and declare their independence, the political system is buckling. And as independents begin to organize and speak out, it’s going to continue to buckle in their direction.

In 2004, there were 120,000 independent voters in New Mexico. A little over 10 years later, when the first open primary bill was introduced, that number had more than doubled. That bill never even got a hearing. But today the number of independents in New Mexico and across the country is too big to ignore. Independents are the largest group of voters in ten states and the second-largest in most others. That’s putting tremendous pressure on a system that wasn’t designed with them in mind.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Voter Here" sign outside of a polling location.

"Voter Here" sign outside of a polling location.

Getty Images, Grace Cary

Stopping the Descent Toward Banana Republic Elections

President Trump’s election-related executive order begins by pointing out practices in Canada, Sweden, Brazil, and elsewhere that outperform the U.S. But it is Trump’s order itself that really demonstrates how far we’ve fallen behind. In none of the countries mentioned, or any other major democracy in the world, would the head of government change election rules by decree, as Trump has tried to do.

Trump is the leader of a political party that will fight for control of Congress in 2026, an election sure to be close, and important to his presidency. The leader of one side in such a competition has no business unilaterally changing its rules—that’s why executive decrees changing elections only happen in tinpot dictatorships, not democracies.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hand Placing Ballot in Box With American Flag
Getty Images, monkeybusinessimages

We Can Fix This: Our Politics Really Can Work – These Stories Show How

As American politics polarizes ever further, voters across the political spectrum agree that our current system is not delivering for the American people. Eighty-five percent of Americans feel most elected officials don’t care what people like them think. Eighty-eight percent of them say our political system is broken.

Whether it’s the quality and safety of their kids’ schools, housing affordability and rising homelessness, scarce and pricey healthcare, or any number of other issues that touch Americans’ everyday lives, the lived experience of polarization comes from such problems—and elected officials’ failure to address them.

Keep ReadingShow less