Yes, Trump can still vote in Florida after felony conviction

On May 30, Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes after a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 charges in his hush money trial.

After the conviction, some people on social media claimed Trump, who is a Florida resident, may not be able to vote for himself in the 2024 presidential election because of Florida’s restrictive felony voting rules.

Multiple VERIFY readers, including Danny, Mark and Terri, have asked if there is any truth to these claims.

THE QUESTION

Can former President Trump still vote in Florida after his felony conviction in New York?

THE SOURCES

• Florida Constitution
• Florida Department of State Division of Elections
• New York State Board of Elections
• Jonathan Diaz, J.D., director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Campaign Legal Center
• Michael P. McDonald, Ph.D., professor of political science at the University of Florida

THE ANSWER

Yes, former President Trump can still vote in Florida after his felony conviction in New York because his sentencing date has been postponed until after the November election.

WHAT WE FOUND

Former President Donald Trump will still be able to vote in Florida on Election Day because the sentencing date in his hush money case has been postponed until after the November election.

Although Florida is notorious for restricting the voting rights of people with felony convictions, it defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. That means New York’s rules apply to Trump since that’s where he was convicted.

“A felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted,” the Florida Division of Elections says on its website.

In New York, someone convicted of a felony is only barred from voting while incarcerated, according to the New York State Board of Elections. If they never serve time behind bars or are released for any reason – including parole – they can still vote.

“New York only disenfranchises felony prisoners, so his rights depend on his sentencing,” Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political science professor, wrote in an X post on May 30.

“In the extremely likely situation Trump’s conviction gets held up in appeals, I expect he’ll still have his voting rights come November,” McDonald added.

Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit government watchdog group, agrees.

“FL treats out-of-state convictions based on the law of that state. In NY, felonies are only disenfranchising during the term of a prison sentence. So if no prison time here, no disenfranchisement,” Diaz wrote on X.

On Sept. 6, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan delayed Trump’s sentencing until Nov. 26. The sentencing had been scheduled for Sept. 18, about seven weeks before the 2024 presidential election. This means Trump will still be able to vote for himself in Florida on Election Day.

Merchan explained that he was postponing the sentencing “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.