I feel like this article is more relevant than it was before given our current state of affairs

[In It to Win It]

This was written back in 2018. I posted it on DU around that time and I couldn't help but think about it considering the fuckery that's happening. It's gotten worse than it was when this was written. This was written right after the 2018 midterms and Amendment 4 was approved, getting about 65% of the vote, giving former felons their voting rights back. I don't know if we have any remedy for the nonsense. How do you fix an unresponsive legislature when it's near impossible to vote them out?

Orlando — Florida legislators have a clear track record when it comes to doing what voters tell them.

They don’t.

You passed the “education lottery.”

They turned the funding into a shell game and left Florida schools among the worst funded in America.

You passed Fair Districts.

They spent more than $10 million of your taxes on lawyers, trying to fight your will.

You passed an environmental amendment.

They ignored you again — and then acted surprised when toxic green algae choked the state’s waterways.

You passed a medical marijuana amendment.

Yet two years later, you have a better chance of scoring a dime bag at any local high school than a chronic-pain sufferer has of getting smokable weed at a legitimate pharmacy.

Basically, Florida legislators follow orders about as well as a pet rock.

They don’t care what voters say. They don’t care about the Constitution. They just do as they please … and usually get re-elected.

So it’s not surprising that, on the heels of yet another voter mandate — to restore voting rights to former felons — there’s concern that lawmakers are once again dragging their feet.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ne-amendment-4-florida-felons-voting-scott-maxwell-20181210-story.html