Questions swirl around whether Trump can vote for himself in the 2024 election
President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters after voting at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Social media users are claiming that Trump won’t be able to vote for himself in the 2024 race because he was convicted in his hush money trial. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
CLAIM: Former President Donald Trump won’t be able to vote for himself in the 2024 presidential election because he was convicted in his hush money trial.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. Trump, a Florida resident, will be able to vote in the election if he stays out of prison in New York, as Florida defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. New York law only removes the right to vote for people convicted of felonies when they’re incarcerated — once they’re out of prison, their rights are automatically restored, even if they’re on parole.
THE FACTS: After a New York jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges in his hush money trial, social media users claimed that the decision will prevent the former president from voting for himself in the upcoming election.
“The guy who ran his 2016 Campaign on ‘LOCK HER UP’ is about to be locked up,” reads one Instagram post. “Also worth noting that as a conflicted felon, Trump can no longer vote in his own home state for himself or anyone else.”
The post, which misspelled the word “convicted,” had received more than 18,900 likes as of Friday.
“Trump can’t legally vote for himself now!!!” reads one X post that had received approximately 9,200 likes and 5,800 shares as of Friday. “I love Karma! It’s a good day for America!”
But Trump’s ability to vote in the 2024 race will depend on his sentence.
That’s because Florida — in which Trump established residency while president in 2019 — defers to other states’ disenfranchisement laws when it comes to residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. In Trump’s case, New York law states that people convicted of felonies are not allowed to vote only when they’re incarcerated. Once out of prison, their rights are automatically restored, even if they’re on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.
So as long as Trump isn’t sent to prison, he can vote for himself in Florida in November’s election. His sentencing date is July 11, four days before the opening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders are expected to formally make him their nominee.
His conviction, and even imprisonment, would not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House. Rules for the convention adopted last year don’t include any specific provisions about what happens if its presumptive nominee is convicted of a crime.
Delegates could move to change the rules before formalizing Trump’s nomination, but there’s no evidence that a significant faction of the party would try to replace the former president on the GOP ticket. Trump commands loyalty across the GOP base, and the Republican National Committee is run by his loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair.
Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. The former president is expected to appeal the verdict.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
