We all want and deserve voter integrity. Unfortunately, Florida's election system is so broken that the state cannot verify voter eligibility for everyone. Due to this, people are being arrested and accused of voting illegally. These arrests waste court resources, law enforcement time, and attention and waste your taxpayer dollars.                                                                                                               

When the government gives people their ID cards, it suggests that they are, in fact, eligible to vote. What else would you think at that moment? You would think that you are, in fact, eligible to vote.                                                                     

For many formerly incarcerated persons, voting is a step in their restorative journey. They enter society ready to apply their experiences, engage in community and build a more just Florida.                                                                  

In 2018, two-thirds of Florida voters passed Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to 1.4 million returning citizens, people with past felony convictions.                 

Last year, Florida officials charged 20 people with alleged voter fraud. We believe in a fair election system, but there are better answers than charging people and wasting money. That money could go towards better resources in schools, parks, safer neighborhoods or a voter eligibility database.                                          

Voter integrity starts at the front end of the election process. That is what we need to fix. Florida citizens deserve to have confidence in our government to verify voting eligibility and feel safe voting.                                                           

We call on the government to apply the necessary urgency and resources to fix the front end of our voter system problem rather than spending taxpayer dollars and using law enforcement and court resources to arrest and jail Florida citizens.

This petition demands that the State of Florida:                                            

• Create a centralized voter eligibility database to verify all voters by the end of 2023
• Immediately stop arrests of returning citizens who have expressed that the state led them to believe they are eligible to vote. 
• Dismiss the cases headed to the court that would exacerbate taxpayer dollars and citizens' money.