Goddamn it Florida.

I was born there. Despite the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes I still think of it fondly. But it’s really hard some time.

Last election, Florida voters overwhelmingly voted to approve an amendment to the state Constitution that restored voting rights to felons. 1.5million people regained their basic democratic right. That’s almost 10% of the voting age population. Yay! Good for you Florida.

And then the Republicans took it away again. To get your voting rights back you have to pay off court fees before you get your voting rights back. How do you justify that? That’s a poll tax and it’s unconstitutional.

This issue is compounded by just how bad Florida is about charging people who run foul of the criminal justice system. If you’re poor and make a mistake, you never get to vote again and now have tons of debt. The good people of Florida try to restore your right to vote, so you can participate in amending the messed up system that screwed you, but those in power shift the goal posts. They’ve charged you for the privilege of sending you to prison.

The whole idea of charging people who are sent to prison boggles my mind. Sure, I could see it in the case of theft or destruction of property. You did a thing now you need to fix it. But that’s for the item in stolen/destroyed. Being charged court costs? Why? That’s why we have a government. We pay taxes, they use that money to run all the society governing things.

Those in power don’t want to pay for poor people to have rights. They can afford court fees, if their fancy lawyers can’t keep them out of court in the first place. Screw you if you can’t. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps moocher.

I don’t have anything eloquent to say. I’m just pissed.