DeSantis addresses Trump’s voting rights concern

“OK,” the left seems to be saying, “so the Trump conviction doesn’t seem to be working out for us. It’s only energized his base and undecided voters don’t seem to be moved by this, the same way they weren’t moved by any of the indictments.

“But how about this: We emphasize that the former president of these United States might not be able to vote for himself! Boy, that’ll show everyone just how serious this was!”

Yeah, that seems like a pretty minor thing — but if you checked out the headlines on any normally Trump-antagonistic outlet, you got headlines like these:

The Associated Press, twice: “Can Donald Trump still vote in the 2024 election?” and “Questions swirl around whether Trump can vote for himself in the 2024 election.”

The U.K.’s Guardian: “Will Trump, a felon, be able to vote for himself in November?”

Politico: “There’s a real possibility Trump can’t vote in November.”

Well, kinda, and we’ll get to that in a moment. The AP was arguably the fairest on this, although it still made for entertaining clickbait — the kind of stuff that the establishment media used after the verdict didn’t produce the widespread immediate repudiation of Trump that they had hoped for. “See?” they seemed to be saying. “This is historic! Don’t you want to listen?“

Actually, however, all they had to do was listen to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The former Trump primary opponent is also the governor of the state where Trump is registered to vote — and while it can prohibit felons from voting, it’s clear that, as long as DeSantis is governor, that isn’t going to happen.

“Former President Donald Trump hasn’t lost his voting rights in Florida. Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven’t yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction,” DeSantis said Friday on social media.

“That said, 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.

“The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s vote this November will be one of millions that demonstrate Florida is now a solid Republican state!”

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t lost his voting rights in Florida. Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven’t yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction.

That said, given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to…

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 1, 2024

Oh, that’s right — clemency. Well, this was a bit of a downer. Politico, which previously threw a log on the clickbait fire with that “real possibility that Trump can’t vote in November” bit, now put out a sad-trombone piece intimating that the Sunshine State is somehow normally hard on felons who want to have their voting rights restored.

“Trump was convicted in New York but lives in Florida, one of the Republican-led states that has made it harder for people convicted of serious crimes to vote,” Kierra Frazier’s Friday Politico piece noted.

“Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to felons in 2018 but the Republican-controlled Legislature undercut the measure with a complex set of requirements that convicted felons first pay all fines, fees and court costs. New York has allowed people with felony convictions to vote upon release from incarceration since 2021.”

It had been only a little over 24 hours prior that the reliably liberal Politico had been exulting in the fact that Trump might lose his voting rights, noting that the former president was “running up against a ticking clock. It may be weeks before the judge sentences him, and Trump’s all but certain appeal could add further delay, jeopardizing his ability to complete any sentence before the polls open in November.”

“Florida, like most states, restricts the ability of people with felony convictions to vote. But the state restores the right to vote for most convicted felons after they complete all aspects of their sentence,” that piece read.

“If a Florida resident is convicted of a felony in another state, and the crime is recognized by Florida, the same rules apply, according to Alex Saiz, legal director of the Florida Justice Center.”

What a difference a day makes — quite literally.

Now, of course, none of this makes a difference in a purely practical sense; Florida has been a reliably Republican state and a Trump stronghold for some time now, and one vote on that pile isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference.

But there was the hope that, on Election Day, there could be a symbolic significance. You can almost hear the MSNBC correspondent stationed at Mar-a-Lago for remote segments on Nov. 5 warming up his vocal cords now, if you listen hard enough: “Now, Trump can’t vote in Florida because he’s A FELON I REPEAT A FELON A VERY DASTARDLY FELON PLEASE LISTEN TO ME, and Florida doesn’t allow FELONS DID I MENTION A FELONY WAS INVOLVED? — ahem — to vote. Back to you in the studio, Joy.”

Well, just as the kangaroo court in Manhattan apparently hasn’t delivered the surge of support for President Joe Biden that the media had hoped for, it also didn’t provide them with that small victory. More’s the pity.