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Governor Ron DeSantis has until the end of the day Saturday to either sign, veto or let legislation implementing the felons’ rights amendment become law without his signature.

The most controversial aspect of the Amendment Four implementing bill is that felons must first pay outstanding court fines and fees along with restitution before they become eligible for voting rights restoration, but there’s a problem.

There is currently no unified database documenting who has paid what.

The lack of a database is a concern for Election Supervisors who are responsible for registering newly eligible voters, like Leon County Supervisor Mark Earley.

“Some counties don’t even really even have databases, it seems to be more of a paper trail kind of thing where you have to go back into filing cabinets,” said Earley, who doubles as the Secretary of Florida State Association of Supervisor of Elections. “We’re trying to evaluate and make it very effective and efficient, but it’s certainly difficult.”

After the legislation passed, the Governor said the fines, fees and restitution requirement has his support.

“As a prosecutor, there were times when restitution was more important than incarceration,” said DeSantis.

The Governor has even gone as far as making the payment of outstanding financial obligations a condition when granting pardons through the Board of Executive Clemency.

“I just think that when you pay your debt that includes whatever you were sentenced to so if you’re willing to do that I’ll move to grant you a pardon,” said DeSantis.

Supervisors said those unsure of their status shouldn’t be afraid of registering at this point.

Generally, if an honest mistake was made, the likely repercussion would be removal from the rolls.

“If it’s an uncertainty, they can go ahead and get registered because they think they’re qualified, they’re eligible again, they’re not going to be prosecuted,” said Earley.

Felons who have already registered improperly after the amendment took effect January 8th and before the bill’s effective date of July 1st are immune from prosecution altogether.

After July 1st, ineligible felons who intentionally register could face a 3rd degree felony.

The bill does task the Department of State with creating a database to track fines and fees, but until that’s complete, determining eligibility will be an ongoing issue.