Former president and presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump is now a convicted felon, but it’s still likely he can vote — and vote for himself — in Florida this fall.
Trump, whose primary residence was in New York for most of his life, moved his residency to Florida in 2019, so that’s where he would seek to vote this fall. Trump can still become president as a convicted felon, and experts say despite his conviction on 34 felony counts on Thursday, he can likely vote, too. Trump’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July, but his attorneys are sure to file all appeals possible, and it’s not yet clear whether he will serve prison time.
Blair Bowie, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, said Florida “defers to other state laws when it comes to disenfranchising voters who are tried and convicted elsewhere.”
According to Florida state law, a Florida resident with a felony conviction elsewhere is only ineligible to vote “if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person 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 felony conviction.” But “if you are convicted of a felony and you are released from prison, you can vote,” and “if you are convicted of a felony and your sentence is suspended, you can vote.”
The ACLU of New York says convicted felons who are on parole, on probation, were not sentenced to prison or completed a prison sentence can vote.
“New York only disenfranchises people while serving a prison sentence, so assuming Trump is not sentenced to prison time, his rights would be restored by New York law and therefore also in Florida,” Bowie said.
CBS News legal analyst and Loyola University Law School professor Jessica Levinson agreed, saying a person convicted of a felony can vote unless incarcerated.
“New York says you can vote unless he’s incarcerated, so no incarceration means he can vote,” Levinson said.
Trump is still facing charges related to alleged election interference in Georgia and Washington, D.C, and another 37 counts related to the classified documents case in Florida. None of those cases have trial dates set yet.