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Politifact FL: Donald Trump is likely able to vote in November despite felony conviction

WLRN Public Media | By Amy Sherman | PolitiFact
Published June 6, 2024 at 4:12 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light.
Julia Nikhinson/AP
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AP
Former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at a news conference at Trump Tower, Friday, May 31, 2024, in New York. A day after a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee addressed the conviction and likely attempt to cast his campaign in a new light.

In Trump’s home state of Florida, where he is registered to vote, the Department of State website says that "a felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted."

The Pulitzer Prize-winning team seeks to present the true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases.

Former President and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s felony conviction in New York raised questions about what comes next. Trump can still run for president, but claims about his voting eligibility followed the May 30 verdict.

"Trump can’t vote for himself in the November election," Florida state Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, wrote on X after the verdict. "He can thank Florida Republicans for that."

Pizzo’s X post received a corrective, crowdsourced community note detailing what legal experts have previously told us: Trump likely would not lose his voting rights. Many legal experts, including the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit group that supports voting rights, said Trump’s ability to vote hinges on whether he is in prison on Election Day.

Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11. Many legalexperts have expressed doubt that Trump will be sentenced to prison because the charge is a nonviolent, low-level felony and he has no previous convictions.

"We are going to be appealing this scam," Trump said at a May 31 press conference at Trump Tower in New York.

It is widely expected that the appeal process will extend beyond Election Day.

READ MORE: Florida voting advocates are fighting to keep the voting rolls accurate

When we contacted Pizzo for comment, he said Trump would not have the right to vote until all the terms of his sentence had been satisfied, citing Florida law. We found that Florida defers to other states’ laws when the conviction is in their jurisdiction. Pizzo also acknowledged that Trump can vote while appealing his conviction.

"Sen. Pizzo's statement holds true for someone convicted of a felony in Florida or in federal court — but Trump was convicted in state court in New York," Blair Bowie, director of the Restore Your Vote program at the Campaign Legal Center, told PolitiFact. "Trump will not lose his right to vote in this case unless he is in prison on Election Day."

Florida’s law about voting after a felony conviction

States pass laws about whether people convicted of felonies lose their voting rights and if so, how they can regain them.

Trump lives in Florida. People convicted in Florida of most felonies lose their voting rights until they serve their entire sentence, including prison time, probation and paying fines, according to the Florida Department of State. (Murder and sexual offense felonies make people ineligible to vote unless the State Clemency Board restores their rights.)

However, Trump was convicted in New York. And according to Florida’s Department of State, "a felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted."

New York law passed a 2021 law that restores voting rights for people convicted of felonies upon their release from prison. People convicted of felonies don’t lose the right to vote unless they are in prison serving their sentences. And people whose prison sentences are stayed pending appeal do not lose their voting rights, Kathleen R. McGrath, a New York state Board of Elections spokesperson, told PolitiFact.

After Trump is sentenced, it is highly likely his lawyers will file a motion to the appeals court asking that the sentence be stayed during the appeal. In 99% of cases involving white-collar defendants, that motion is granted, said Evan Gotlob, a former local and federal prosecutor.

"Former President Trump would therefore need to be actually incarcerated during the time of the November election to lose his ability to vote," said Neil Volz, the deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, the group that advocated for Florida’s 2018 constitutional amendment restoring felon voting rights.

University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald, an expert on disenfranchisement of people convicted of felonies, told PolitiFact, "Trump may, in fact, be removed from the voter rolls but it seems highly unlikely he will be removed by November."

"The most reasonable scenario here is that Trump remains on the voter rolls," McDonald said. "He could be sentenced to prison, and he could be serving time by the time we get to November, I guess I can’t rule out that possibility, but it seems like a very remote possibility."

In 2018, Floridians voted in favor of the amendment that restores the voting rights of people with felony convictions after those people complete the terms of their sentences. Previously, people with felony convictions had to seek to regain their voting rights through the state clemency board.

Florida state officials, including from the Department of State, have not responded to PolitiFact’s questions about Trump’s voting rights. Trump is a registered voter in Palm Beach County.

Our ruling

Pizzo said, "Trump can’t vote for himself in the November election."

This is premature and against the odds. The Florida Department of State says a felony conviction in another state invalidates the right to vote in Florida only if "the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted." That means New York’s laws would apply to Trump. In that state, people convicted of felonies lose the right to vote only while incarcerated.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11. Even if he receives prison time — which many legal experts said they think is unlikely — it would be stayed pending an appeal that is likely to extend beyond Election Day.

Pizzo’s statement contains an element of truth because it cannot be ruled out that Trump would be incarcerated on Election Day and therefore unable to vote for himself. But the statement ignores critical facts that would give a different impression: Trump has said he will appeal his conviction. This would stay his sentence until the appeal is complete — widely expected to be after Election Day.

We rate this statement Mostly False.

Our Sources

Copyright 2024 WLRN Public Media

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Politics Donald Trump
Amy Sherman | PolitiFact
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