Ally_Kat
07-08-2004, 02:56 PM
Florida to Let Former Felons Vote
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Division of Elections has done an about-face and decided it will allow voting by almost 2,500 former felons whose restored voting rights had been threatened with revocation.
The agency initially said state law required that former felons be deleted from the voter rolls because they had registered to vote before they were granted clemency. Florida is one of seven states that do not automatically restore felons' civil rights after they finish their prison sentences.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood backtracked on the issue Wednesday.
"It goes without saying that our guiding principle throughout this process will be to err on the side of the voter," Hood said in a statement.
The decision drew praise from civil rights groups, who argued that qualified voters could have been kicked off the rolls because of administrative errors and bureaucratic bungling.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Florida Justice Institute had threatened to sue unless the state switched course, saying forcing voters to register again served no legitimate purpose and potentially violated the law.
"I think it was a needless impediment to the right to vote in Florida," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Simon cautioned that the state's list of 47,000 possible felons registered to vote must still be scrutinized for mistaken identities and other irregularities before elections supervisors remove anyone from the rolls.
County elections supervisors also had balked at the state's mandate requiring those pardoned felons to reregister.
Many considered it a paper-pushing technicality at a time when local election officials must investigate thousands of names, determine who is eligible to vote, and then notify by mail any suspected felons whose civil rights have not been restored.
"That's good news for the voters, and certainly it makes a lot of our tasks easier to follow," said Miami-Dade County Elections Supervisor Constance Kaplan. "We want to make sure people aren't disenfranchised."
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Division of Elections has done an about-face and decided it will allow voting by almost 2,500 former felons whose restored voting rights had been threatened with revocation.
The agency initially said state law required that former felons be deleted from the voter rolls because they had registered to vote before they were granted clemency. Florida is one of seven states that do not automatically restore felons' civil rights after they finish their prison sentences.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood backtracked on the issue Wednesday.
"It goes without saying that our guiding principle throughout this process will be to err on the side of the voter," Hood said in a statement.
The decision drew praise from civil rights groups, who argued that qualified voters could have been kicked off the rolls because of administrative errors and bureaucratic bungling.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Florida Justice Institute had threatened to sue unless the state switched course, saying forcing voters to register again served no legitimate purpose and potentially violated the law.
"I think it was a needless impediment to the right to vote in Florida," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Simon cautioned that the state's list of 47,000 possible felons registered to vote must still be scrutinized for mistaken identities and other irregularities before elections supervisors remove anyone from the rolls.
County elections supervisors also had balked at the state's mandate requiring those pardoned felons to reregister.
Many considered it a paper-pushing technicality at a time when local election officials must investigate thousands of names, determine who is eligible to vote, and then notify by mail any suspected felons whose civil rights have not been restored.
"That's good news for the voters, and certainly it makes a lot of our tasks easier to follow," said Miami-Dade County Elections Supervisor Constance Kaplan. "We want to make sure people aren't disenfranchised."