Will Trump be able to vote for himself in 2024? It depends, experts said | Fact check

Andre Byik, USA TODAY
·5 min read

The claim: Trump can run for president but he is ineligible to vote in 2024 election

A May 30 Threads post (direct link, archive link) connects former President Donald Trump's voting rights to his conviction on felony charges in his New York hush money trial.

"So he can run for President but he can't even vote for himself!" reads the post.

It was liked 1,400 times in one day. A similar post on Facebook was shared nearly 1,000 times before it was deleted.

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Our rating: Partly false

The post is right that Trump's felony conviction in New York doesn't preclude him from running for president. The U.S. Constitution doesn't explicitly bar felons from serving as president. But the post overreaches when it comes to whether Trump will be able to vote in the 2024 election. Legal experts said if Trump is not in prison come Election Day, he should be able to vote in Florida, where he lives.

NY conviction doesn't automatically make Trump ineligible to vote, experts say

On May 30, a New York jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records tied to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Legal experts have suggested his sentence could range from probation to four years in prison, USA TODAY reported.

The conviction does not prevent him from being president, as the U.S. Constitution doesn't explicitly bar felons from serving as president, USA TODAY reported. The Constitution only requires that the president be a natural-born American citizen who is at least 35 years old and has lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

But it's too early to say if Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, will be able to vote for himself in November's election. Legal experts said that will depend on his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 11. If Trump is not in prison come Election Day, they said, he'll likely be able to vote.

Blair Bowie, attorney and director of the Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote project, said that's because Trump's right to vote is governed by the law in Florida, where he lives.

According to Florida's Division of Elections, "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."

In this case, Trump's state of conviction is New York, and Bowie said New York only takes away a person's right to vote while the person is incarcerated for a felony. A felon's right to vote in New York is also automatically restored upon their release from incarceration, regardless of whether they are on parole or serving a term of post-release supervision, according to the New York State Board of Elections.

"Trump has neither been sentenced to incarceration nor is he actually incarcerated," Bowie told USA TODAY. "He has the right to vote in New York, so he has it in Florida. The only way he won't be able to vote is if he is actually in prison on Election Day."

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More: Can convicted felons like Trump vote? What comes next after guilty verdict

Michael Morley, a Florida State University law professor who teaches election law and constitutional law, agreed. He similarly noted the office of Florida's secretary of state has interpreted the state constitution and state election code's voter disqualification provisions to apply to people who have been convicted of a felony in another state.

"In such cases, a person’s eligibility to vote in Florida would depend on whether they would be disqualified from registering to vote in the state where they were convicted," Morley said in an email. "My understanding of New York law is that a person convicted of a felony does not become ineligible to vote unless they are actually incarcerated, rather than being sentenced to a fine, probation, or a suspended sentence. Thus, it appears that Donald Trump’s eligibility to vote in Florida depends on his sentencing, which will occur on July 11."

If Trump is not sentenced to prison, Morley said, he should remain eligible to vote in Florida.

Trump is expected to appeal his conviction, which could keep him out of prison as the process plays out, further lessening the chance he will lose his right to vote in the 2024 election, USA TODAY reported.

Trump continues to face criminal charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, the federal election interference case in the District of Columbia and the Georgia election interference case, though it's unclear whether any of these cases will go to trial before Election Day on Nov. 5.

The Threads user who shared the post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PoltiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's right to vote depends on whether he is in prison | Fact check

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