Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner told Fox News that "the data" he is "seeing" shows ex-felons are registering for Republicans more than Democrats.
While it's unclear what numbers Kushner is looking at, past data shows that ex-felons who've had their votes restored in years past tended to register as independents.
"I don't think that's where the country is," Kushner said about socialism. "One statistic that I found pleasing, more of the -- in Florida they passed allow where former felons can vote. We've had more ex-felons register as Republicans than Democrats."
"Whoa! You've had more ex-felons register as Republicans than Democrats?" Fox News host Laura Ingraham exclaimed.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, 1.4 million ex-felons have already registered to vote in Florida after the passage of Amendment 4, but there's no evidence they're going right.
Allison DeFoor, founding chair of the Project on Accountable Justice at Florida State University, said that ex-felons granted clemency in the past "were statistically more likely to register as independents."
“The historical evidence suggests – there’s not a lot of evidence, but it’s all we’ve got – that it slightly favors Republicans among people who’ve fit this model in the past in Florida,” DeFoor told The Sentinel. “Both parties have a real opportunity here. It’s kind of like a swearing-in [of new citizens] at a courthouse.”
There's a lot left out of DeFoor's statement. Before Amendment 4 the people granted clemency were few and far between. Those who were given their right to vote back were given the right from former governors or presidents, which means they'd have deep ties to politicians. Also, the claim that people who register as independent vote for Republicans isn't accurate.
Presumably, if the White House believe this fact to be true, they'd pass an executive order giving the right to vote to all felons in the United States.
The internet was quick to discount what Kushner claimed:
