State: Rules on felons' rights eased

TALLAHASSEE -- With little advance notice, Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's elected Cabinet changed the rules Thursday to make it easier for some felons to get the right to vote.

The action comes as Florida's longtime policy of banning felons from the voter rolls is under attack on several fronts, including three lawsuits against the state.

Critics said Thursday that the state's new rules don't go far enough, and that Florida should give all felons who have served their time the right to vote automatically, which is how it works in most other states.

The rules passed unanimously by Bush and the Cabinet affect people who have served their time, are non-violent and aren't classified as a habitual offenders. Those felons will be able to get their civil rights restored, including voting rights, without having to go to a hearing of the state's Executive Board of Clemency, a cumbersome and lengthy process.

The clemency board, made up of the governor and Cabinet, still has to sign off on the list of felons who want their civil rights restored, but the process will be faster. The state will also shrink a 12-page questionnaire that felons have to fill out to four pages, cutting back on paperwork.

The new rules also let people who still have outstanding court fines or costs of $1,000 or more to get their voting rights restored without a hearing. Felons who haven't paid restitution to their victims, however, won't be able to use the new streamlined process.

"We've seen people who haven't paid $48 in court costs not be able to get a nursing license," said Attorney General Bob Butterworth, the clemency board's only Democrat, who supported the changes. "I think this is going to do a lot to make sure people who can rehabilitate themselves can do so more quickly."

Repeat offenders could also use the new streamlined process, as long as their crimes were non-violent.

"A lot of the people who come here (to the clemency board) are drug addicts. They commit a whole multitude of offenses, yet, they get their life together," Bush said in explaining why multiple offenders should be allowed to use the new streamlined process.

It is unclear how many felons might be affected by the new policy. From 1998 to 2000, 36,450 people were released from Florida prisons, and 3,484 got their civil rights restored, said Bush spokeswoman Katie Baur.

"A large percentage don't even apply," Baur said.

Florida is one of just nine states that prohibit all felons who have served their time from voting. And the policy is drawing criticism.

During November's election, elections supervisors purged a list of felons from voting rolls, only to find out that some people -- mostly African-Americans -- were inaccurately labeled as felons and prevented from voting in the closest presidential election in history. Some elections supervisors found the list so untrustworthy that they refused to use it. In some cases, felons ended up voting illegally.

Two lawsuits -- one state and one federal -- are pending against Florida, charging that the state hasn't done what it is required to do to help felons restore their voting rights. The NAACP is also suing over the flawed voter list, saying it disenfranchised black voters.

The Legislature's black caucus tried this year to restore felons' voting rights, but the legislation died.

According to The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit group, Florida is home to the largest group of disenfranchised felons in the country -- some 400,000 people.

"When felons are released from prison, Florida continues to make them second-class citizens," said Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, which is one of the groups suing the state. "It affects their ability to make a living, to get certain licenses and vote. They pay taxes, but they don't get representation. The governor and Cabinet should change this policy. We need to get in step with the rest of the nation and the rest of the world."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk