Officials highlighted recent rule changes they say help circumvent state law restrictions derided by critics as a "poll tax" on former felons trying to regain voting rights.

The fate of a controversial law to permit former felons to vote is being decided in Tallahassee, but Palm Beach County officials announced Thursday they are working within the framework of the law as it stands to help former felons find their pathway back to the voting booth.

"We do not want people to be deprived of the right to vote because they cannot afford to pay their court costs and fees," said Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

The law requires the full sentence to be complete before restoring voting rights. If the costs and fees are removed from the sentence, Aronberg explained, former felons would be eligible to register to vote again.

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To do so, county officials highlighted recent rule changes. One is a new process implemented in Palm Beach County courts two months ago, and effective for all future cases, that separates court fees from the sentencing docket. That decoupling means that while felons are still obligated to pay court fees, their voting rights will not be withheld while they complete their payment plans after finishing their sentence.

"Our pathway is not to remove the fines and fees — they would still be obligated to pay the fines and fees. But the costs and fees would be separated from their sentence," Aronberg added.

It’s not automatic as each former felon would need to modify their sentence on a case-by-case basis by filing an "agreed upon motion" with the public defender’s office to retroactively change the sentence docket. The clerk of court then helps those residents repay the debts, but at least the full repayment is no longer a barrier to registering to vote.

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"We are ready, willing and able to take anyone through the process that needs to pay their court fines, fees and costs," said County Clerk Sharon Bock, noting that her staff researches outstanding debts and puts former felons on repayment plans.

The legal and financial acrobatics are necessary, officials say, in light of the state law approved in Tallahassee this past spring. The law requires Florida’s estimated 1.4 million former felons to first pay in full all court fees and fines associated with their sentence, which critics have decried as "a poll tax" that essentially keeps ex-felons disenfranchised.

West Palm Beach resident and former felon Rolando Chang Barrero thought he was back on the path to full citizenship, including restoration of his voting rights, with the passage of Amendment 4 a year ago.

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Then, legislation and a court case changed that.

"The people gave us the second chance last year, only to be ripped away with fines and fees," Chang Barrero told a group gathered outside the Palm Beach County Courthouse Thursday morning to announce the public-private partnership between the county and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. The group has been on a statewide bus tour to highlight efforts to restore voting rights to those who have paid their debts to society.

"Last year I finally got the right to vote," Chang Barrero said to applause. "I get to correct, change those things that allowed me to continue in a downward spiral. I get to change the system. I get to be part of that system now."

Coalition Executive Director Desmond Meade, a former felon who helped write Amendment 4, rode into West Palm Beach on a bright red bus to make the public announcement Thursday.

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"In spite of whatever litigation that may be out there, in spite of whatever confusion that may be out there," Meade told the assembled crowd. "Every one of the 1.4 million Floridians who were impacted by Amendment 4, if they want to be able to participate in democracy again, that there is — let me repeat that — there is a pathway for them to be able to do so."

Meade said many citizens are eligible to vote but are confused by the debate on which costs they must first repay before they can register to vote. He hopes the bus tour will clear things up for former felons.

Also, counties differ on whether court fees are part of the sentence. Palm Beach County followed Miami-Dade County’s lead and decoupled court fees from the sentence docket.

"The law gives the courts authority to modify a person’s sentence to remove that financial barrier and allow them to register to vote," Meade explained.

Aronberg told the assembled crowd that restoring the right to vote is a public safety issue.

"Registering to vote makes returning citizens feel more involved in representative government and the justice system which are good predictors against recidivism," he said. "Our community is not safer when we create a permanent underclass of the disenfranchised. When someone is released from prison, we must encourage that individual to reenter society as a law-abiding, taxpaying, productive citizen."

Chang Barrero lashed out at Gov. Rick DeSantis for trying to prevent convicted felons from regaining their rights.

"He refuses to accept that the people voted for felons to get the right to vote," Chang Barrero said, referring to an October temporary injunction by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle that argued an inability to pay court debts should not bar felons from registering to vote.

Meade said the current public conversation is part of the process. While the amendment was approved by voters last year, he has been involved in efforts to restore voting rights to convicted felons for a decade. The amendment’s passage was one step in clarifying how that would take place.

"We anticipated at some point that politicians would get involved in it, and then that created a lot of uncertainty about the legislation," said Meade. "There’s just some things that we have to parse through."