State scraps felon voter list
Roster of `potential felons' is flawed, excludes most Hispanics, Florida says
By Bob Mahlburg
Tallahassee Bureau
July 11, 2004
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida elections officials decided Saturday to scrap a list of "potential felons" after discovering another flaw that could have proved politically explosive for a state trying to run an undisputed election.
The database, maligned for weeks by civil-rights advocates, was dumped because it shielded virtually all Hispanic felons from being purged from the voter rolls. The admission came on top of earlier errors, such as including thousands of people on the list who already had their rights restored.
The move was a major blow for state officials, including Secretary of State Glenda Hood, Florida's chief elections officer. The former Orlando mayor has stressed that confidence in the elections system is critical in the wake of the botched 2000 presidential balloting.
"It's a great day for democracy in Florida," said Jessie Allen, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice, a group suing the state over the constitutionality of its felon-voting ban. "There have been numerous and massive problems with the list, and finally they had to realize this is not a fixable problem."
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