Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president in November, is now the criminal is found guiltybut it’s still likely he could vote — and vote for himself — in Florida this fall.
Trump, whose primary residence was in New York for most of his life, moved to Florida in 2019, so that’s where he would look to vote this fall. Asset can still become president as a convicted felon, and experts say that despite his conviction the 34 counts On Thursday he will probably be able to vote too. Trump’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July, but his lawyers are sure to file any appeals they can, and it’s not yet clear whether he will serve prison time.
Blair Bowie, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, said Florida “defers to other states’ laws when it comes to disenfranchising voters who are tried and convicted elsewhere.”
Under Florida state law, a Florida resident who has been convicted of a felony elsewhere is only ineligible to vote “if the conviction renders the person ineligible to vote in the state where he or she was convicted.” , the Florida Division of Elections website says. According to the New York Courts website, “you lose your right to vote while you are in prison for a crime.” But “if you are convicted of a crime and you get out of prison, you can vote,” and “if you are convicted of a crime and your sentence is suspended, you can vote.”
In a post Friday on social media, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote that “Trump did not lose his voting rights in Florida. The rights are not taken away in Florida where they have not yet been taken away in the sentencing jurisdiction.”
The ACLU of New York says convicted felons who are on parole, probation, have not been sentenced to prison or have not served a prison sentence can vote.
“New York only deprives people of their rights when they are serving a prison sentence, so assuming Trump is not sentenced to prison, his rights would be restored by New York law and therefore also in Florida ” Bowie said.
Jessica Levinson, a CBS News legal analyst and professor at Loyola University Law School, agrees, saying a person convicted of a crime can vote unless they are incarcerated.
“New York says you can vote unless he’s incarcerated, so no incarceration means he can vote,” Levinson said.
Trump still faces charges related to alleged election interference in Georgia and Washington, D.C., as well as 40 other counts related to the classified documents affair in Florida. Neither case has a trial date set yet.