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Proposals To Restore Felons’ Rights Move Forward
January 19, 2018
Two proposals that would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences were approved Thursday by a Florida Constitution Revision Commission panel.
In a 6-2 vote, the commission’s Ethics and Elections Committee approved a measure (Proposal 7), sponsored by former Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, that would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their prison time and completed any probation or parole requirements. Felons convicted of murder or sexual offenses would be excluded.
In another 6-2 vote, the panel endorsed a measure (Proposal 21), sponsored by Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, that would also automatically restore felons’ voting rights after sentences are completed.
But Rouson’s proposal would exclude a larger group of felons from automatic restoration. It lists more than a dozen types of felonies that would prevent automatic restoration, including such things as carjacking and burglary.
Smith’s proposal is identical to a constitutional initiative launched by Floridians for a Fair Democracy, a group that is trying to place the proposal on the November ballot by submitting petition signatures.
The group, which has already won approval from the state Supreme Court for the wording of its proposal, is close to reaching the ballot. It had submitted 750,723 valid petition signatures to the state as of late Thursday afternoon, just under the 766,200 ballot threshold.
Smith, who is sponsoring his measure along with former state Sen. Arthenia Joyner of Tampa, said he expects Floridians for a Fair Democracy to meet a Feb. 1 deadline for submitting the needed signatures and that the group has actually collected close to 1 million signatures. He said he would drop his Constitution Revision Commission proposal if the group is successful.
“No pride in the authorship, I would defer to the almost 1 million Floridians who have signed the petition at that point,” Smith said. “If the signatures are good, this gets withdrawn the next day.”
Smith said he wanted to keep his proposal, along with Rouson’s proposal, moving forward in case a last-minute problem occurs with the petition drive.
Rouson said it was “his inclination at this time” to withdraw his proposal if the voter petition drive is successful in reaching the November ballot.
He said he offered his proposal with a broader list of felonies as “a pragmatic compromise,” saying it could offset some of the opposition he expects the other amendments to attract if they get on the ballot.
Rouson also said he did not want to “confuse” voters by having two amendments on the same ballot. “But we want something on the ballot that’s significant and substantial to a number of citizens in this state,” he said.
Under the commission’s analysis, Smith’s proposal could open the opportunity for as many as 1.5 million felons to regain the right to vote, to run for office or to serve on juries. Rouson’s version would offer that automatic restoration path to an estimated 859,000 Floridians.
Advocates for voting-rights restoration argue that Florida has become an outlier among states by having so many felons blocked from voting, with their only chance to regain those rights through a cumbersome process that can take years and has resulted in an average of less than 500 restorations per year.
Some have underscored the impact on African-American residents, although Rouson said the current system is impacting all demographic groups.
“This is not a black issue,” Rouson said. “This is a human rights issue, and it affects all groups of citizens in the state.”
The proposals next head to the commission’s Declaration of Rights Committee.
Each measure would eventually need to win support from at least 22 members of the 37-member commission to win a spot on the 2018 ballot. Any constitutional measure on the ballot will need support from at least 60 percent of voters to be enacted.
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Comments
19 Responses to “Proposals To Restore Felons’ Rights Move Forward”
I for one is for it. I have been trying to get my rights restored for over 27+ years. not everyone is bad, I got stupid when I was teen. i did my time, and my probation. and i have been paying for it all my life. Its time for some chance. By law i cant work with my own kids at school or in any organization they belong too. Would love to have my rights restored any help is great
I don’t know what is going on with people we elected to protect the American people from harm. They want to open up the borders and let anyone, muderers and all come in to our country. Now they want to prison inmates the right to vote and own firearms if rights restored. I hope it’s not just to get more votes for their political party. I wonder if our elected officials have ever read the Constitution of the United States or had a civics class. I dought 1% of them have. They don’t even know what their job is.
Sounds good.
Let them vote for laws to do away with punishment for crimes that are committed. Run for office to start such laws.
GENIUS.
We all have things in our past that we wish we didn’t. Some people get caught some don’t. There should be a separation made between someone who makes a mistake and someone who has a pattern of criminal behaviors.
I personally am too much of a scared cat to get in trouble, If I had seen this three years ago I would had blindly opposed any rights restored, why would we give a “criminal” rights back?? But in the last few years I’ve met people from different walks of life that I had never known anything about before and here is what I’ve learned…
There are plenty of “dangerous criminals” with no records…
I know a man who has made a mistake and has the “felon” tag attached to him. You will never meet a better man, he made a mistake years ago and will live with it forever. He will be the first person to come to your rescue when you’re stranded on the side of the road and never expect anything in return. His whole life is devoted to making sure the people around him have what they need, even when it means turning 13 hour days into 18 hour ones, he volunteers what little free time he has to help with construction projects at his church …I’d trust him with my life. And he’s a felon.
I also know a man who has never been caught by the law, he is able to talk his way out of any situation, a con artist. Who sells gun parts illegally out of a Day Labor company, embezzles money from the company he works for, commits insurance fraud, his day to day activity is one of a criminal. He will be the one that you need protecting against I assure you! And according to public record, he’s a law abiding citizen.
One of these men have all of their rights. The right to vote, to bear arms…one doesn’t. Because one got caught making a bad choice and breaking the law one time and the other, tho he lives his life in this manner all of the time, has yet to be caught.
We should not give rights back to everyone who gets in trouble, but we should to the ones that have proven to society that the mistake they made isn’t who they are. We are all young and stupid once, but we should have the chance to prove ourselves, restore our honor.
I wonder if this would include someone convicted of multiple felonies, most felons had been given one chance after another before they went to prison, or had a felony reduced to a misdemeanor. I believe this was first started to detour criminal behavior. Let’s just restore all their rights so they can pursue what ever career they chose, maybe just wipe the slate clean so no one will ever no their criminal past and pass a law to protect them from anyone asking them and remove the question from any job application that should make them very happy and build a democratic voting base.
No one should be excluded from voting if they have severed time or completed probation. Everyone should have the right to vote. Why would anyone be excluded? If you are a USA citizen you still have rights, and voting should be one that can never be revoked.
Once you are back in normal society, after doing your time, you would definitely want to have a say in your own fate and your children’s. Yes, they should be able to vote by then and I can’t fathom why that would be odd. I think that violent crimes, sexual crimes, and home invaders crimes should not, though.
REGARDING:
“Let’s make it really easy for them, just put voting precincts in the prisons.”
Excellent idea. Let them vote, don’t take away their right to pick our leaders unless the crime of which they were convicted showed they would do a worse job than the average voter. Sure, they killed someone, raped someone, robbed someone (or lots of someones), beat someone with a club and then set her on fire or some such action which justifies, but does that really mean they couldn’t pick a decent public servant?
They would have time to research the candidates, something most of us seldom do.
Most of the things they did wrong would not affect who they would favor in office.
It would be interesting to see which politicians did what to get their votes.
It would keep them understanding or maybe bring it home for the first time that they are part of society and they can be a force for good or bad.
I am of a divided mind whether or not they should retain the right to keep and bear arms while incarcerated. If they are, we need them to guard themselves lest they accidentally shot a Correctional Officer. Some non-violent inmates might not survive their incarceration, but maybe they would. It would make people who have not yet been caught committing a crime think twice about doing so, lest they be killed for shoplifting.
Some judge would surely decide we did not provide them the protection they needed from each other, though.
Maybe we should just start with the voting thing.
David for caution
Check this list of felonies.
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/sg_annual/0304/appendices.html
Anybody you know ever commit any Level 1 offenses ? I think my grandpa used to make a little home brew for himself. I never knew that I was keeping company with a diabolical felon.
I think any felon who is released from prison should have the OPPORTUNITY, to get their rights restored. It should not be handed to them just because they maxed out their time. BTW if they “maxed out” more than likely they got in trouble while in prison, so those are the least likely to deserve their rights back.
I think there are a few basic things they could do to earn it back. Some could be done before release, others after.
H.S. Diploma
Anger Management Certificate
Citizenship Test (basic government)
Hold down a job for 1 year post release
Zero law enforcement encounters 2 years post release (not even a speeding ticket).
Do those things, you have proven to me that you deserve the CHANCE to be a full fledged citizen again.
@Randy
Actually, there are states that do restore gun rights, Louisiana being one. I’m definitely pro punishment, yet there’s way too many rights taken. I was amazed at the occupations felons are prohibited from being. That’s just wrong. If they’ll be released, don’t design the system to fail them. This coming from someone who supports public executions as a means of a deterrent.
First thing that comes with being a Christian is your taught to forgive. as long as these are non violent offenders that have done the time and have not got in trouble since they deserve a second chance in society. These are your brothers and sisters whether you like it or not.
Have they successfully done their time? Do they pay taxes- like the rest of us? Do we want them to move forward and positively reintegrate into society? I would like to think that the answers to all of these questions would be “yes”. Frankly, I don’t care how they may choose to vote. I see it as an opportunity for ex-felons to feel as though they have a legitimate stake in the game, so as to speak. Overall, I believe it would strengthen our community. With our economy taking off like it is under the present administration, don’t just assume that the majority of ex-felons would automatically vote Democratic. The tide is turning!
what next GUN RIGHTS
Let’s make it really easy for them, just put voting precincts in the prisons.
I hope they give them a little warm puppy too………………..
Just Dems hunting more voters for there base and don’t care care how or where they come from felons , illegal alien’s ect!
Excluding carjacking and burglary from the list would be racist.
“No” to convicted felons voting. They gave that right by being a criminal.