7 November 2018

Forget Congress: the most important result in the midterms was this Florida ballot initiative

Amendment 4 – which passed on Tuesday – gives more than a million people with former felony convictions back the right to vote.

By Mehdi Hasan

Voters wait in line outside a polling-station in Miami on Tuesday (Photo By Getty)

In Florida, while all eyes were on the closely-fought gubernatorial race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, liberal and conservative voters united to back a little-noticed ballot initiative called Amendment 4.

This was an amendment to the Florida constitution that called for the restoration of voting rights to former felons who have served their sentences, with the exception of those convicted of murder and sexual offenses.