Why Have 1.5 Million Floridians Been Banned from Voting?

[Coyotl]

Universal Human Rights
Why Have 1.5 Million Floridians Been Banned from Voting?

09/23/2013By Nancy Abudu,
Director of Legal Operations, ACLU of Florida & Joyce Hamilton Henry, ACLU of Florida
https://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-voting-rights/why-have-15-million-floridians-been-banned-voting

The struggle to protect the fundamental right to vote for people with a felony conviction is nothing new in this country, but has now reached a crisis level. Almost six million people are denied the right to vote because of felon disfranchisement laws that perpetuate racial and economic disparities by excluding citizens from the democratic process even after they have paid their debt to society. Last week none other than Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) came out in favor of restoring the right to vote for the formerly incarcerated.

The result is of the injustice of felony disenfranchisement is that people, especially people of color, are legally barred from participating in our system of government, and denied a say in the issues that impact their communities. Factors that contribute to so many people's involvement in the criminal justice system in the first place are then rarely addressed. Florida, unsurprisingly, has one of the worst records when it comes to felon re-enfranchisement. While other states revoke the right to vote of a person convicted of a felony most states restore voting rights once a person has completed his or her sentence, and provide a streamlined process for restoration of rights. Florida, in contrast, has erected a convoluted, antiquated and ineffective system which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to get his or her rights restored. The result is that tens of thousands of applications for rights restoration have remained in limbo for years. Election after election passes, with fewer and fewer Florida citizens able to participate.

Earlier this month, the ACLU and other civil rights organizations detailed the crisis of felon disfranchisement and the barriers to rights restoration in a Shadow Report submitted to the UN Committee on Human Rights, explaining U.S. non-compliance with its obligations as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The report highlights how, as of 2010, Florida has disfranchised more than 1.5 million citizens due to a felony conviction – amounting to 10.42 percent of the state's voting age population and 23.3 percent of Florida's African-American voting age population.

The arbitrary nature of Florida's rights restoration process is best illustrated by how the change in the state's administration ...........

[Coyotl]

1. kick

[hobbit709]

2. Three guesses, first two don't count.

[Coyotl]

8. Elections, elections, elections. This very tactic gave us George W. Bush as President

because without it the vote would not have even been close.

[giftedgirl77]

3. Welcome to Florida,

not just the cops are racist dirtbags.

This comes from years of experience....

[LonePirate]

4. Interesting. I wonder why the ACLU hasn't challenged this in court.

Surely this is unconstitutional. Then again, so would be laws that forbid ex-felons from owning guns. I wonder if those laws are enforced as strictly.

[1-Old-Man]

5. What in the Constitution forbids it?

I don't like it but I don't know of anything that makes it unconstitutional.

[Enthusiast]

14. I agree. It has to be unconstitutional........nt

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Coyotl.

[Coyotl]

7. You are welcome. This is important to democracy.

Time to put an end to Nixon's political enemies list and the machinations and dirty tricks that goes with their racist agenda.

[Uncle Joe]

9. It's a crying shame that in order in stay in power all the Republicans have is disenfranchisement

and division for answers.

[Mnemosyne]

10. Despicable and very Un-"American". I believe that someday, even those of us at DU, we will be

stunned at how widespread all of the spying, and fraud, actually goes in this country.

I think we only see the tip of that iceberg. jmho.

[Coyotl]

11. The big shock will be how many fixed elections for how long now.

Clue number one: Ohio was solid blue until when?

[Recursion]

12. I'll take "because they're black and brown" for 800, Alex (nt)

[Coyotl]

13. ^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^