Florida officials hear suggestions on updating felon voting process

TALLAHASSEE — State election officials on Friday listened to suggestions about how to update the process for convicted felons to seek what are known as advisory opinions about their eligibility to vote, with advocates calling for a procedure that provides “certainty” for people who have completed their sentences.

A rule-development workshop came after mediation between elections officials and plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging how the state carried out a 2018 constitutional amendment aimed at restoring voting rights of felons.

The lawsuit, filed in July by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and individual plaintiffs, described a “bureaucratic morass” encountered by felons trying...