LeBron James’ organization donates $100,000 to help Florida felons regain voting rights
It has been more than five years since LeBron James last donned a Miami Heat jersey, but his love for Florida remains the same.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar’s More Than A Vote organization pledged $100,000 to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to help former felons become eligible to vote.
“This is a fight about their constitutional right to vote being denied,” James tweeted Friday.
“We believe that your right to vote shouldn’t depend upon whether or not you can pay to exercise it,” Udonis Haslem said in a press release, “which is why More Than A Vote is proud to partner with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to ensure that formerly incarcerated American citizens — many of themBlack and brown — are able to pay their outstanding fines and fees and register to vote in the 2020 election and beyond.”
The money will be used to help cover the outstanding court-ordered costs those with felony convictions must pay before the restoration of their voting rights. This measure was a byproduct of the 2018 passage of Amendment 4 which restored voting rights to convicted felons who completed “all terms of sentence.” More than one million Floridians benefited from the legislation, of which about one-third are Black, according to the FRRC.
In response, the GOP-controlled Legislature passed a bill that broadened the defintion of “all terms of sentence.” This meant that the financial obligiation associated with their conviction, such as fees, fines or restituion, must first be handled.
A legal battle soon erupted. In May, an U.S. district judge ruled the state can’t prevent felons from voting if they’re unable to pay those the court-ordered costs. A federal appeals court then subsequently halted the judge’s order in early July, setting up a hearing that will take place later this year.
James formed More Than A Vote in June with a host of prominent sports figures following the death of George Floyd. Patrick Mahomes II, Udonis Haslem and Skylar Diggins-Smith are just a few of the athletes who partnered with the 35-year-old superstar in his efforts to protect the voting rights of African-Americans.
“Because of everything that’s going on, people are finally starting to listen to us — we feel like we’re finally getting a foot in the door,” James told the New York Times in June. “How long is up to us. We don’t know. But we feel like we’re getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 4:22 PM.
