Can Donald Trump vote in the 2024 election? Here's what you should know

CNN
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While Florida generally makes it difficult for people in the state who have been convicted of a felony to regain their right to vote, former President Donald Trump had no problem casting a vote for himself in Palm Beach on Tuesday.

Trump was convicted in Manhattan earlier this year of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to pre-election hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump, the first former US president to be convicted of a crime, is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26.

Under Florida law, if a voter has an out-of-state conviction, Florida will follow that state's laws in determining how a felon can regain his or her right to vote.

For Trump, that means he will benefit from a 2021 New York law that allows people with felony convictions to vote as long as they are not serving a prison sentence at the time of the election.

For other Floridians with felony convictions, the rules aren't so simple.

“Florida is really behind on its laws,” said Blair Bowie, director of the Campaign Legal Center’s “Restore Your Vote” project, which focuses on ending felony disenfranchisement.

A successful 2018 ballot initiative to restore voting rights to those serving their sentences was rejected by the state's Republican lawmakers. They have passed a law requiring the payment of all fines and fees associated with a conviction – a process that can be cumbersome because there is no central system to track these outstanding fees.

The Republican measure, which required all fines and fees to be paid, was challenged in court, but a conservative appeals court ultimately upheld the law. Still, the litigation has shown that records of these outstanding debts are maintained at the county level and are often incomplete.

But Trump doesn't have to deal with this bureaucratic quagmire because he was convicted in New York.

“The bottom line is that it should be this easy for everyone, not just Trump,” Bowie said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.