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TAMARA LUSHState elections supervisors left their annual conference without guidelines for taking felons off voter rolls.
KEY WEST - Heading into their annual conference this week, Florida's 67 local elections supervisors hoped for consistent guidelines to remove felons from voter rolls.
It didn't happen.
They spent Wednesday talking about the list of 46,000 voters the state identified as "potential felons."
They got instructions from a state law enforcement officer to verify whether someone is a felon.
And they were urged by the American Civil Liberties Union to be careful.
But they will leave today without a single set of guidelines.
"There's nothing simple about this," Pat Hollarn, Okaloosa County's supervisor of elections, said with a sigh. "That's the problem."
All will mail letters as required by law to anyone they plan to remove from the voting rolls. Beyond that, each will take a different tack.
Some plan to hire private investigators to help track down voters. Others will rely on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or local court clerks for help.
All said they will do their best to verify the list, which is essentially a cross reference of databases. The state clemency board, the FDLE and court clerks provided information to check against the rolls of registered voters.
But because hundreds of voters were wrongly identified as felons in 2000 and removed from the voting rolls, the list is generating anxiety among the elections supervisors and civil rights groups.
So many voters were removed from voting rolls in 2000 it could have affected the outcome of the presidential election.
Supervisors in large counties must investigate thousands of potential voters.
"If I don't get it done, that's the way it goes," Hollarn said. If in doubt, she said, she will err on the side of the voter.
Supervisors across the state already have found incorrect names and other problems with the new list, such as voters who were wrongly identified as felons in 2000 and already restored to the voting rolls. State law mandates that the supervisors use the list but they cannot assume it is correct.
"We have to go through it name by name, line by line, very cautiously," said Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson, who was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003.
Johnson made a name for himself at this week's conference by unveiling a flow chart showing the myriad steps he will take to verify the list. It includes checking and rechecking with court clerks, the FDLE and other criminal information sources - all before sending registered letters.
Johnson must check 3,542 names. Pinellas has 983, Pasco 766, Hernando 474 and Citrus 207.
By law, the supervisors must send a letter to everyone on the list alerting them that they will be barred from voting unless they can prove that they have been wrongly included. Voters can request a hearing with the supervisor. If still unsatisfied, the voter can appeal to a judge.
"The lists are only a starting point," said Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning. "Just because they're on the list, that doesn't mean they are off the voter rolls."
The FDLE told the supervisors Wednesday that it is setting up a Web site and call center to help the supervisors sift through criminal records. The Web site can be used by supervisors and voters who can fill out an appeal form if discrepancies are discovered.
Howard Simon, Florida executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the cautiousness supervisors are showing is a "huge improvement" from 2000.
Simon said he wishes Secretary of State Glenda Hood would have put time and energy into investigating how many people were wrongly identified as felons and barred from voting in 2000.
"There has not been a bit of progress in addressing the injustices of 2000 in restoring eligible voters to the voting rolls," Simon said. "That's distressing."
In Hillsborough, Johnson restored voting rights to 553 people. Pinellas Elections Supervisor Deborah Clark said she also restored some voters to the rolls.
Pasco's Browning said he didn't need to restore anyone to the rolls because none were improperly removed in 2000. Hernando County ignored the 2000 list. Citrus County restored the rights of one voter.
But no one knows how many of the 94,000 voters identified as felons in 2000 actually were felons and wrongly purged from the rolls. The state compiled a list of 12,000 people - 41 percent African-American - who may have been misidentified as felons but acknowledged it is inexact.
Florida is one of seven states that bar felons from voting unless they get their rights restored, a long and cumbersome process. Thousands of felons are still waiting for state officials to act on their requests to have their rights restored.
Some supervisors say they support having the state restore felons' rights after their sentences are served.
"It would make it much easier and much less expensive," said Ion Sancho, Leon County's supervisor. "We've spent $5-million for three databases, and for what? Faulty, inaccurate information."
- Tamara Lush can be reached at 727 893-8612 or at lush@sptimes.com