amendment 4
January 29, 2020 -
The voter registration deadline for Florida's 2020 primary election is approaching. A federal judge ruled that the state cannot require people with felony convictions to pay court fines, if they cannot afford it, to have their voting rights restored. An appeals court is reviewing that decision.
December 10, 2019 -
With the 2020 elections approaching, efforts to repeal laws that strip ex-felons of their voting rights are gaining momentum across the South.
August 2, 2019 -
Though an amendment added to the U.S. constitution during the height of the civil rights movement prohibits poll taxes, many states continue to effectively impose them by requiring people who've completed felony prison sentences to pay fines and fees before they can register to vote.
May 24, 2019 -
As the movement for criminal justice reform takes center stage ahead of the 2020 elections, governors and legislators in the South are offering reforms to create a more welcoming reentry process after prison and to restore rights stripped from ex-felons — though progress on that front faces backlash in Florida.
May 24, 2019 -
Watch the new documentary by Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren of Field Studio that takes viewers inside the 2018 Woke Vote effort led by young African American organizers in Southern states to transform voter turnout and elect political progressives.
January 11, 2019 -
In Florida, where a new constitutional amendment has restored voting rights to most ex-felons, organizers are planning a voter registration and engagement campaign to reach those with — and without — criminal convictions. Meanwhile, a lawsuit aims to expand voting rights to people with felony records in Kentucky.
September 13, 2018 -
In 1868, Southern states held constitutional conventions in which recently freed black men helped eliminate vestiges of the Confederacy and draft progressive blueprints for state government. While some of the provisions survived Jim Crow, conservative politicians today are chipping away at Reconstruction's radical legacy.
