ATLANTA, Oct. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Florida State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Committee or SAC) has released its report on ex-felon voting rights. In its report to the Commission, the Florida SAC independently estimates that the total number of persons in the state disenfranchised from voting ranges from 600,000 to 1.2 million persons, or about 3 to 6 percent of the voting population.
Dr. Elena Flom, Chair of the Florida SAC, states: “Previously in 2009 the Florida State Advisory Committee issued a report in support of the revised Rules of Executive Clemency that automatically restored voting rights for most ex-felons. In 2011 Governor Rick Scott, with the support of a majority of the Cabinet, revoked the revised clemency rules. As a result, all ex-felon voting rights restoration cases must be individually reviewed. Given the large number of persons disenfranchised in the state because of the state’s ex-felon Constitutional provision, the original framers of the state’s Constitution in 1845 could not have possibly envisioned a state population of 20 million persons and the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of persons when they enacted the ex-felon voting ban and the procedures for executive clemency.”
The right to vote is fundamental to democracy. With its updated report, the Florida SAC recommends that the Commission urge the Governor and Cabinet to re-consider their 2011 action and restore the revised rules of clemency to allow non-violent ex-felons who have completed all terms of their sentence to have their right to vote restored without undue delay.
The report is posted on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights website at http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/FL_SAC_Ex-Felon-Report.pdf. A print version of the report is available from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by calling (202) 376-8128.
CONTACT:
Elena Flom, Ed.D.
Chair, Florida Advisory Committee
[email protected]
404-562-7000
SOURCE U.S. Commission on Civil Rig
How, exactly, is voting a public safety issue?
There is no way our Republican dominated state will ever lessen any penalty on felons. Arrest and incarceration rates must be kept high to ensure full jails and prisons, and a steady flow of federal dollars. The Republicans must be voted out (by those who can vote) next month. Also, after reading the referenced document, it only applies to Level-1 offenders. A brief look at Florida Statute 921.0022 http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0921/Sections/0921.0022.html will reveal that all offenses that will get you on the registry are Level-5 or above.