Voting ban for felons could end with next governor (FL)

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Regardless of who becomes governor of Florida in three weeks, one thing now appears certain: The 136-year-old rule that keeps most felons from being able to vote after they have completed their sentences will be scrapped.

Republican Charlie Crist has switched his position and joined Democratic opponent Jim Davis in favoring restoring the civil rights of all felons automatically after they have served their time. Until recently, Crist opposed automatic restoration.

"It all comes down to one fundamental question: Do you believe that an individual has paid his debt to society?" Crist said Tuesday in an interview with The Miami Herald editorial board. "If they've really paid their debt to society, then why not restore their right to vote?"

Unlike other promises the candidates have made, undoing the 1870 rule is something a governor can do with a simple signature on an executive order, said Randall Berg, director of the Florida Justice Institute, a civil rights advocacy organization."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15783699.htm

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Sure Crist switched

Now that most of his friends are under indictment.

Repugs are going to need all the ex-felon votes they can get.

[orleans]

3. i was just thinking the same thing. n/t

[Nite Owl]

2. They need every vote

that they can get.

[bluestateguy]

4. I believe it from Crist when I see it

I could see him kicking the can on it long enough so that the law change does not go into effect in time for the 2008 election.

Or I could see his Secretary of State fucking everything up and, "Oops! Were we supposed to put those ex-felons back on the voter registration rolls? Sorry about that! We'll put them back on next time. Uh, sorry. But, it's well you now, water under the bridge!"

I'll only praise Crist for this election year conversion once I see him follow through on his promise and the change to the law is actually implemented. Until then, I stand with my arms folded in skepticism.

[ruiner4u]

5. Is that a state law?

Im asking because I grew up in Florida and always thought it was a national thing that felons couldn't vote?

[onehandle]

6. State.

Racist hatred is a national thing. I understand your confusion.

[ruiner4u]

7. thanks...

color me educated... man for YEARS I thought that was country wide...

[roseBudd]

8. felon disenfranchisement is mostly jim crow, barring only people in jail

on election day costs $0.00 to implement. FL spent $3 million in 2000 purging felons

[Lexingtonian]

10. lifetime disenfranchisement for all people convicted of a felony

is law only in Florida (700,000 ex-felons), Virginia (250,000), and Kentucky (150,000+). Mississippi and Alabama disenfranchise all ex-felons convicted of violent crimes. Other states have more complicated disenfranchisement rules, or they disenfranchise probationers and give exceedingly long probations (e.g. 30 years in Georgia) tacked on to sentences proper. The full picture nationally is a grotesque mess and travesty. All these states have various legal loopholes and processes to restore rights to people that they like, of course.

There's a decent map of things at http://www.righttovote.org and a lot of paper and studies at The Sentencing Project website.

I've been interested in the whole problem since November 2000. Basically, Florida is the linchpin to the matter- other states will quickly follow suit once Florida caves. There have been a lot of lawsuits about it all over the years, with the worst sorts of jurisprudence and abuses on display by Republican-stacked federal courts. Johnson v Bush was probably the key lawsuit over the past few years; the court papers are on the Brennan Center's website.

Everything rests on the 1974 Supreme Court verdict/opinion in Richardson v Ramirez, which is the one remaining Rehnquist "accomplishment" still standing (other than re-legalization of execution i.e. "death penalty" in 1977). The RvR opinions have to be read to be believed; there are copies online.

One consequence of ex-felon disenfranchisement has been ability to manipulate voter registration and voter ID requirements in extremely abusive partisan ways. Katherine Harris did it infamously in Florida. It's a loophole through which all kinds of election abuses are perpetrated, and the abuses only end with elimination of the disenfranchisement laws altogether.

[MrScorpio]

9. Crist switched...

Sashayed is more like it

[SoCalDem]

11. Y'know? I don;t really mind a felon ban on voting, BUT

when they have paid their debt to society, voter re-registration should be a part of the release paperwork..

My guess is that most felons probably don't give a crap about votiing, but they should not be prevented, if they want to.

The exception?

If the conviction is for election fraud, they lose the right permanently :)