(Tampa Bay Times)
It happened on 911. Before then, a federal judge had blocked a modern-day poll tax in Florida. But on 911, other judges temporarily occupying federal office ruled that a poll tax is not a poll tax.
Even further back, nearly 2/3 of Floridians who voted on it, voted in favor of a State constitutional amendment that when people convicted of certain felonies had served out the terms of their sentences, then they should be allowed to vote. The exceptions were people convicted of felonies of violence whether related to sex or otherwise. The people did not impose any more restrictions on the right to go to the polls.
The Florida Legislature intervened. They could not allow that to stand. They imposed restrictions on the right to go to the polls. If the returning citizens want to vote, then the Florida Legislature ruled that they would have to pay a tax. They would have to pay court costs and every other cost imposed by judges. Even though Florida cannot tell them how much to pay because Florida is not set up to tell them how much. They cannot vote if they cannot pay.
The first judge to address this ruled that the Florida Legislature's poll tax is unconstitutional. The Florida Governor could not allow that to stand. The Florida Governor appealed to the majority on the Federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that overruled the Florida Constitution written by the voters. (As the saying goes, you can't make this stuff up.)
The Federal majority of 6 outvoted the Federal minority of 4 in this case. Ironically, they out-voted them just as millions of Florida voters thought that they had outvoted their opponents in 2018, the ones that represented about 1/3 of Florida. And so the 6 outweigh the millions. The current occupiers of the Federal government outweigh the people.
Here's hoping the plaintiffs appeal to the Supreme Court. Not that the Gang of Five will declare a poll tax to be unconstitutional; they probably won't. They are the kissing ideological cousins of the Pack of Six on the Eleventh Circuit, after all.
Rather than expecting a reasonable chance of success on the merits of the case, the plaintiffs should appeal because of the risk of not appealing. There is at least a chance of success, for one thing. But most of all there's this: There's no such thing as a free lunch. To coin a phrase, the poll taxers should pay a tax for blocking the will of Florida voters. There should be a penalty for voter suppression.
This may be a country now in which voters are suppressed, but we can lessen the number of votes that are suppressed. The people who do these things may have a right to rule if we let them. But they have no right to call their rule the United States of America.
Read about the saga that runs through 911 at The Tampa Bay Times here. Please read the disclaimer. ©2020 Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved.
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