Florida is known as an important and almost always too-close-to-call state in any American election, but today was an especially big day for the state. First of all, Republicans in the senate and gubernatorial races just barely eked out a win. Senator Rick Scott won by a measly 0.4% over his Democratic opponent Bill Nelson. The new governor of the state, Ron DeSantis, won by 0.7% over his opponent, Andrew Gillum, also a Democrat. Bill Nelson has already called for a recount and with good reason, the vote is split almost directly in two in the state along rural and urban lines (see the NY Times' instructive map).
However, as much as the population of Florida was divided in half on election day, they were united on one issue: the right of former felons to vote, or Amendment Four. On the ballot along with different candidates were certain issues, among them amendment four. The amendment will give voting rights back to more than a million people in the state but has two notable exceptions: those who have committed murder or a felony sex offence will not get the right to vote. As Van Jones of CNN put it, rather biblically, "both parties have values that are offended when there's no redemption."
