Legal Commentary

Voting Reform in FL Still Moving Too Slowly

By TChris

Americans who are convicted of crimes do not lose their citizenship, are not relieved of their obligation to pay taxes, and should be just as entitled to participate in the democratic process as everyone else. In Florida, however, even after felons are released from prison and from supervision, even after they've paid their fines and made restitution, there are still barriers to voting. Those barriers stem from an ugly history of disenfranchising black voters.

The issue of voting rights here has long been intertwined with race. The ban on voting by felons became part of the state Constitution in 1868, when many Southern states found ways to suppress black votes in the wake of the Civil War.

Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist has advocated a measure of reform that, since April, has reinstated voting rights for 115,232 ex-offenders. But 80 percent of them remain disenfranchised. [more ...]

The newer rules create a three-tiered system for ex-convicts, based on the severity of their crimes. Those who have completed sentences and probation for the least violent, Level 1 offenses since April can have their rights restored without having to fill out paperwork, after the state confirms payment of restitution.

Of the 115,232 who have regained their rights, the vast majority are older cases that preceded the law. But most of the state’s estimated 950,000 felons must request reinstatement.

A reinstatement request can take years to process. Why?

[L]iberal groups have accused the state’s Republican-controlled government of retaining the policy in an effort to keep blacks, who tend to vote Democratic, from registering.

Gov. Crist bases his call for reform upon his belief in the value of redemption.

“Once somebody has truly paid their debt to society, we should recognize it, and we should honor it and we should welcome them back into society and give them that second chance,” Mr. Crist told a crowd of law enforcement officials and advocates for prisoners’ rights in Tallahassee.

It is the voting system in Florida that needs redemption, in the form of additional change. Civil rights are restored automatically in most states after completion of a sentence. Florida needs to follow that example if it wants to move past the vestige of post-Civil War vote suppression.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).