Former President Donald Trump was found guilty of crimes in New York, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he will make sure he can vote in his home state.
A jury in Manhattan found Trump guilty of 34 felonies of forging business records on Thursday. Since 2019, Trump has lived at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach as his main home. His sentencing hearing was set for July 11, just a few days before the Republican National Convention, where he will officially become the party’s presidential choice for 2024.
After the decision, some people have asked if the former president could still vote since Florida usually doesn’t let felons vote before they finish their sentences. However, Trump can still vote in New York because he is not yet serving his term. On the other hand, in Florida, out-of-state felony convictions are handled by the local government.
In a controversial challenge to Trump’s claim to the GOP nomination before dropping out of the race in January, DeSantis said he would use his power to restore Trump’s voting rights in Florida on Friday, even if he is serving a sentence on Election Day. He said this in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
“Former President Donald Trump hasn’t lost his voting rights in Florida,” he wrote. “Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven’t yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction.”
“That said, given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair,” he said. “The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s vote this November will be one of millions that demonstrate Florida is now a solid Republican state!”
Trump is currently not prohibited from voting because of his New York conviction, but many of the rights and benefits he had before Thursday were taken away when he became a felony.
In most situations, criminals are not allowed to own guns or serve on juries. A lot of other countries don’t let criminals come either, and some industries won’t hire or license them either.
Trump said many times that his legal problems are caused by a political “witch hunt” that is the same thing as “election interference.” He insisted that he is “a very innocent man” right up until he was found guilty on Thursday.
Even though DeSantis and Trump fought a lot during the GOP primary, with Trump calling DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious,” the Florida governor supported Trump while dropping out of the race and has since been talked about as a possible running mate for Trump.