On Tuesday night, Florida voted overwhelmingly to pass Amendment 4, a massive expansion of voting rights in the state which will have significant implications for the electorate going forward.
The amendment, which needed a threshold of 60 percent to pass, restores voting rights to rehabilitated ex-felons, except those convicted of murder or sex crimes. It is estimated that this change to Florida's constitution will allow some 1.5 million disenfranchised citizens to vote, some 10 percent of the adult population, and 21 percent of the adult black population.
Florida was one of three states where those convicted of a felony permanently lose their right to vote, the others being Iowa and Kentucky. The law has its roots in the aftermath of the Civil War, as a means of preventing newly-freed black people from being enfranchised by the 15th Amendment, a purpose it is still serving to this day.
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