Florida

Can Donald Trump Vote in the 2024 Election?

Published

on


In late May, Donald Trump was convicted by a New York court on 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former president to be a convicted felon. While there are many questions that remain about what’s next for Trump, one major one is: Will Trump be able to vote in the 2024 election?

For starters, Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, can still run for president. (The U.S. Constitution has very few requirements for presidential candidates.) However, his residency in Florida calls into question whether or not he’ll be able to vote.

In Florida, people convicted of felonies cannot vote until they’ve completed all terms of their sentence (including probation and parole). That said, if a person is convicted in another state—like how Trump was convicted in New York—Florida law defers to the voting laws of that state. In New York, people convicted of felonies can vote as long as they are not currently incarcerated.

“As just this one instance shows, the state of Florida has made it extraordinarily difficult and some cases impossible for somebody with a criminal record to know whether they are eligible to vote,” Nicholas Warren, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, told NBC Miami. “The rules around whether you can vote should be easy and clear to understand, and it is the obligation of the state to provide that information to everybody who wants to exercise that role.”

Advertisement

Trump’s sentencing is set for July 11, so if the judge decides to sentence him to jail time—and that jail time lasts through Election Day—he would be ineligible to vote. However, the Tampa Bay Times notes, “If he is incarcerated, Florida’s clemency board — made up of Republicans Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis — could restore his right to vote.”

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.





Source link

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Exit mobile version