florida rights restoration coalition
September 14, 2022 -
As deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Volz was a leader in the fight to pass Amendment 4, which returned the right to vote to over a million Floridians with past felony convictions. He talked with Facing South about Florida's ongoing attacks on returning citizens, mobilization for the midterm elections, and the future of the movement to end felony disenfranchisement.
September 17, 2021 -
Though a lawsuit seeking to restore the voting rights of North Carolinians on probation or parole suffered setbacks in recent court rulings, the broader movement to re-enfranchise people with felony convictions has made gains in Southern states in recent years.
December 3, 2020 -
First-time voters including young people, former felons, and newly naturalized citizens proved to be a crucial voting bloc in many races nationwide including in Georgia, which a Democratic presidential candidate hadn't won in 28 years. Experts predict that these first-time voters will continue to play an important role in shaping Southern and national politics.
September 24, 2020 -
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a Florida law requiring people with felony convictions to pay off all court fines and fees before they can cast ballots again, so voting rights advocates are redoubling efforts to raise funds to help the indigent.
September 9, 2020 -
As states across the country gear up for the November elections, millions of formerly incarcerated people could be blocked from voting because of laws requiring them to first pay all court fines and fees. But voting rights advocates are challenging those laws — and they recently racked up a big win in North Carolina.
July 9, 2020 -
States across the country require people with felony convictions to purchase their voting rights back if they ever want to cast a ballot again. It is a mechanism that felony disenfranchisement schemes increasingly rely upon, and it marks a return to the sordid tactics of Jim Crow.
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.
