Crist is alone on voting rights
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published November 17, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Incoming Gov. Charlie Crist might have a tough time making good on a campaign promise to automatically restore the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences.
The three members of the incoming Cabinet, which also serves as the state's clemency board, all said Thursday they would not be in favor of restoring rights to felons convicted of violent crimes such as murder and sexual offenses even after they had done their time. One isn't convinced the system needs changing at all.
It's not clear whether Crist is committed to restoring voting rights of all felons who have served their sentences.
During his campaign, Crist didn't distinguish between violent and nonviolent crimes when he said he supported restoring voting rights to felons. Asked about the distinction Thursday, Crist's transition team did not provide an answer clarifying his position.
Yet Crist told the Times last month that "if somebody has paid their debt to society, either we recognize that they have or we don't."
Representatives for incoming Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, and Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson, a Republican, said they supported limited automatic restoration of voting rights for felons, though not violent offenders convicted of murder and sexual offenses, among other crimes.
Incoming Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum said Thursday that he disagreed with Crist, indicating he didn't support automatic restoration. He added that he hasn't talked to Crist about the issue yet.
"I do not believe that I'm prepared to say today, or may I expect to say in the near future, maybe at all, that we ought to automatically restore any particular category of criminals' rights," McCollum said in a news conference. "We'll see if there are some lesser crimes that get automatic restoration, but my gut tells me that will be very few and that category still ought to be reviewed by somebody."
Florida is one of three states that still require felons to go through a cumbersome process requesting clemency, which dates back to 1868, to regain their civil rights. As of July 1, a backlog of 5,600 felons were waiting for formal review of their cases.
Automatically restoring felons' voting rights would take either a clemency board rule change, which needs approval by the governor plus two Cabinet members, or a constitutional amendment change, which needs approval of 60 percent of voters. The American Civil Liberties Union had asked Crist during the campaign to clarify which route he would take. It still hasn't gotten an answer.
"We are hopeful that when Governor-elect Charlie Crist gets into office that he will reiterate his position that there should be automatic voter right restorations, and that members of the Cabinet will follow his lead," said Muslima Lewis, ACLU director of the racial justice and voting rights project. The ACLU estimates that felony convictions prevent 30 percent of black men in Florida from voting.
Jennifer Liberto can be reached at liberto@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.