Voters in Florida approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that will restore voting rights to 1.5 million ex-felons who have already completed their sentences, with the exception of those convicted of murder or sex crimes.
The passage of Amendment 4 will enfranchise more people at once than any other other single initiative since the women’s suffrage movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, according to Vox.
Florida's current system required felons to wait at least five years after completing their sentence before they could file a request with the governor and Cabinet. About 1.5 million people are affected.
According to Axios, felony disenfranchisement laws affect about six million people nationally, and Florida s one of four states — Iowa, Virginia, and Kentucky — that constitutionally prohibit ex-felons from voting, unless the governor approves a clemency plea.
The Florida amendment has the potential of shifting the makeup of the country's largest battleground state.
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