Free Our Vote’s efforts in Florida have met with measurable success. In a forthcoming research paper, we measure, for the first time, the direct impact of felony financial disenfranchisement on voter participation, using a debt relief program implemented by Free Our Vote in Florida in 2020. Specifically, we compare electoral participation between registered voters whose legal-financial obligations were eliminated by Free Our Vote against virtually identical debtors who did not benefit from our program. We find our debt relief program increased voter turnout by approximately 26% among this group during the 2020 election.
Neel Sukhatme is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and a Faculty Advisor at the Institute for Technology Law and Policy. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Alex is a research economist and litigation consultant. His research focuses on the pecuniary penalties associated with the criminal court system. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University.