Court: State must aid felons rights

The appellate ruling says prison officials must provide forms that restore voting rights and help felons fill them out.

By ALISA ULFERTS
Published July 15, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - The state must do more to help felons leaving custody of the state Department of Corrections to restore their voting rights, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The decision reversed an earlier court ruling that said the state was meeting its obligations by electronically informing clemency officials of felons' status.

The unanimous ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal said state prison officials must provide the forms felons need to get their voting rights back and help fill them out.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida Justice Institute and Florida Legal Services on behalf of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators, several organizations that assist ex-felons and felons.

"The question for the governor now is whether the state will stubbornly insist on maintaining its unjust and archaic system of lifetime disenfranchisement," said Howard Simon, ACLU Florida director.

Florida is one of seven states that do not automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences. They must apply to the Board of Executive Clemency, comprising the governor and Cabinet.

The state's executive clemency laws have remained virtually unchanged since 1868, when lawmakers sought to deter ex-slaves from voting.

Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, said the clemency board won't be able to absorb the expected increase in clemency applications and that Gov. Bush should relax the rules to provide automatic restoration of rights.

Last year, 54,412 people were released from prison or parole supervision. Wednesday's court ruling applies to both groups.

"The system simply can't accommodate that figure," Berg said.

But Bush has said repeatedly he doesn't think all felons should automatically have their voting rights restored.

The governor already has streamlined the process: The application has shrunk from 12 pages to one, certified copies of sentencing orders are no longer required and applications are on the Internet.

"The governor thinks we have a fair system in place," said Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre.

Wednesday's ruling is the latest in a series of decisions affecting felons and voting.

On Saturday, Secretary of State Glenda Hood abruptly abandoned a list of potential felons her office had sent to county supervisors of elections with the instructions to scrub from their rolls people who were confirmed felons.

Hood stood by the list even after revelations that more than 2,000 had already had their rights restored. It wasn't until news reports that the list underrepresented Hispanics, who tend to vote Republican, and overrepresented blacks, who tend to vote Democratic, that Hood withdrew the list.

The state spent $1.8-million developing the list.

The problems with the list have renewed calls to automatically restore voting rights for felons who have completed their sentences.

"The debt has been paid, and people's rights should be automatically restored so they can get jobs and vote," said Rep. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa.

[Last modified July 15, 2004, 01:00:38]