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ACLU: 13,000 Ex Florida Felons Could Register To Vote
August 2, 2012
.More than 13,000 ex-felons may be eligible to vote but don’t know it, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said Wednesday, citing data it obtained from the Florida Parole Commission.
The ACLU said the commission is sitting on more than 17,000 Restoration of Civil Rights certificates that would notify former felons that they can now register to vote, but which have not reached their intended recipients. The civil rights group cross checked the names on those certificates with voter registration lists and found that 13,571 of them are not registered voters, presumably because many of them don’t know they’ve been cleared to register.
Florida is one of a minority of U.S. states that does not automatically restore civil rights once a felon has completed a sentence.
The certificates were sent between 2007 and March 2011, during which time a change in policy spearheaded by former Gov Charlie Crist allowed nonviolent ex-felons to have their rights automatically restored.
The policy was repealed in March 2011 after Florida Gov. Rick Scott and newly elected members of the Florida Cabinet voted to eliminate automatic restoration and again make it more difficult for ex-felons to get their civil rights, including the right to vote, restored.
Scott has been aggressively pursuing efforts to clean up the state’s voter rolls because, he says, there are some non-citizens who are ineligible to vote who are registered.
Following a legal battle, the state last month gained access to a federal Department of Homeland Security database to continue the effort to remove ineligible voters. An initial effort stalled when local supervisors of elections balked because of possible inaccuracies on an earlier list of potentially ineligible voters that was sent to the counties by the state.
“The contrast between the baseless claims that Governor Scott has made about voter fraud and the lengths to which he has gone to make voting more difficult, and the inattention to the thousands of voting rights restoration certifications gathering dust … could not be sharper,” Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida executive director, said in a statement.
Tammy Salmon, a parole commissioner administrative assistant, said the figures were correct and reflect certificates mailed to recipients who could not be found and left no forwarding address.
In some cases, the agency made “multiple attempts” to make contact, but to no avail, she said.
The parole commission’s website – https://fpcweb.fpc.state.fl.us/ – allows viewers to search to see if an ex-offender’s rights have been restored.
“We are going above and beyond to try to reach these folks,” Salmon said.
Eligible residents must register by Oct. 9 to vote in the general election in November.
By The News Service of Florida
Comments
7 Responses to “ACLU: 13,000 Ex Florida Felons Could Register To Vote”
Jane on August 2nd, 2012 6:32 am
“It seems the ACLU only helps felons and minorities.”
No Jane, it only seems that way because you don’t know much about the ACLU. The comment you used fits your bias, not the facts.
Call them up and ask them about the Whites they have represented, that ever includes El Rushbo. I asked them for a list a while back of all the Christians they had represented who’s rights had been violated and I received two very long list.
You can get that information from them and then share it at your next Klan meeting.
REGARDING:
” it is taxation without representation, which is one of the very reasons this great country came to be.”
Please consider we have millions of visitors to the USA every year who pay taxes during their visits and they don’t get to vote. They aren’t citizens of this country.
Millions of Americans go to Florida every year who pay taxes during their visits and yet do not get to vote for our governor. They aren’t citizens of Florida.
People from Santa Rosa County often shop in Escambia County and pay sales taxes on their purchases but don’t get to vote in Escambia County politics. They aren’t citizens of Escambia County.
I spend money in Century and pay both property taxes and sales taxes but don’t get to vote in Century politics. I’m not a citizen of Century.
Automatic citizenship isn’t conferred except American citizenship for being born in the USA. Citizenship — including the right to carry weapons — can be lost due to conviction for felonies and is not automatically restored. Courts have accepted this obvious and reasonable fact.
So do I.
David for good citizens
I am a very conservative person. However, ex felons who pay taxes, work and contribute to our government should be allowed to vote. If not it is taxation without representation, which is one of the very reasons this great country came to be. It would be unconstitutional to not restore their rights. I a more in favor of taking the voting rights of life long welfare recipients who do not pay taxes and do not contribute.
These were simply questions as to the original purpose of the ACLU. I see more in the news regarding minorities and felons about the ACLU than I do other things, that is why I am asking what the original purpose of the ACLU was? I don’t see much about women or caucasians, for example, when I read things the ACLU is involved in. I didn’t see anything regarding homeland security suggesting terrorists should be getting voting rights…did I miss something?
quite often
and with that self-correction out of the way:
“It seems the ACLU only helps felons and minorities”
Ultimately, aren’t we all some sort of minority?
There are more people weighing either more or less than we do, so that makes us in a minority.
If we are white, there are far more Asians in the world than whites, so that makes us a minority.
No matter what our age, there are more people either older or younger than we are, so we are in some sort of minority: either of old geezers or of young whippersnappers (like me).
The American Civil Liberties Union doesn’t only speak for minorities or felons or even limit themselves to Americans. I read recently where they sued to have certain non Americans taken off the No Fly List so they can fly to America. They don’t have visas, so they can’t enter legally, but they may not have to get through the gate, just on the plane.
Now to be honest, the ACLU didn’t insist they be taken off the list, just that the government explain why they’re there in the first place.
It could be an honest mistake, in which case they should be allowed to fly.
It could be a grudge on the part of some minor government worker, in which case they should be allowed to fly.
It could be that information shows they would be coming to blow up planes or commit some other acts of terrorism and that knowing how we know would help them kill whoever ratted them out and protected us.
Further, it’s possible that the reason these 13,000 haven’t been notified is that they are keeping out of sight because they’re sought for other felons.
David for safe skies
and good voters
Felons’ civil rights should not automatically be restored simply because a prison sentence has been served. That is not the totality of the debt to society. It quiet often is never repaid but at least a period of time acting like a good citizen should be served ere right to carry weapons and select candidates is restored.
Now, if they HAVE been restored, that is another matter. Then they should be treated the same as non felons other than the fact only a fool would hire some of them based on past practices.
David for weapons in hands of law abiding, not felons
It seems the ACLU only helps felons and minorities. I wonder if that was what it was originally set up to do? Was that it’s original purpose? Or was it supposed to help everyone fight for their civil rights?