On Thursday, The Supreme Court issued a court order that will prevent ex-felons who have court fees from voting in the primary election and likely the presidential election in November.

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), demographics that tend to vote Democrat, make up the overwhelming majority of felons in the Florida prison systems. Florida is also a swing state, which means that whether or not ex-felons have the right to vote could determine the outcome of that state’s elections.

Over one million Florida residents are ex-felons. In November 2018, a constitutional amendment was passed that restored their right to vote  given the completion of “all terms of sentence.” In January 2019, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that stated that “all terms of sentence” included any legal fines and fees.

The fees ranged in size from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, according to Lisa Foster, the co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center. Additionally, Florida had sanctioned that any unpaid court fees after 90 days would be referred to a private debt collector, who could then charge a surcharge of up to 40 percent.

Florida stated that they had no central listing of how much each individual owed in fines, fees, and restitution, and that they had no system in place to assess what that amount would be in the event that an ex-felon owed anything. Such a system would take at least six years to be developed and implemented.

After two ex-felons challenged the law and won, Judge Robert Hinkle determined that the majority of ex-felons would not be able to afford to pay off their fees. Additionally, Hinkle stated that requiring that the legal fees be paid off first to participate is an unconstitutional tax on voting, and made a permanent injunction keeping the law from going into effect.

However, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes six Trump appointees, blocked Hinkle’s order this month and set the hearing date on the same day as Florida’s state primary, August 18.

SCOTUS allows Florida’s pay-to-vote scheme, which disenfranchises thousands of ex-felons, to take effect. This likely means thousands of Floridians will be unable to vote in the 2020 election due to lack of money. Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Kagan dissent. I’ll have a link soon. pic.twitter.com/FyX1VzNS6U

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 16, 2020

The ex-felons then appealed to the Supreme Court, who denied their request to lift the temporary order to ban ex-felons from registering or voting.

For the 85,000 ex-felons who were previously registered, voting could lead to prosecution, if they have unpaid dues.