Tennessee to follow Florida in precluding those convicted of Murder and Sex Offenses from voting.
Florida is the birthplace of a lot of bad ideas when it comes to policies regulating persons required to register. We had the first residency restrictions and it wasn’t long until the domino effect spread across the country. As other states and municipalities began to recognize the unintended circumstances and rolled back their SORRs, Florida is holding strong, despite the negative press brought on from the Julia Tuttle Causeway and the encampment at the railroad tracks.
Another stupid idea to come out of Florida was the carve-out from Amendment 4. In a measure to restore voting rights for former offenders who have satisfied their sentences, Floridians voted to restore the voting rights of former felons, EXCEPT those convicted of murder or a sex offense.
The reasoning remains elusive. Was there a rash of killings or sexual assaults at poling booths? Is there a concern that people will draw dirty pictures on their mail-in ballots? For whatever reason, Amendment 4 was able to proceed with the exception and a sub-class has been carved into our state constitution.
Tennessee Rep. Michael Curcio has now sponsored a bill which would help automate the restoration process but leave behind people who have convictions for first-degree murder and child-sex crimes.
The Times Free Press quoted an idiotic statement, “They say a rights restoration law in Florida is associated with a 12.8 percent reduction in recidivism.” REALLY?!?! I’m curious to know where they got that statistic, since Amendment 4 only took effect last month. Someone is clearly lying!
While there’s still time, citizens of Tennessee should be reaching out to their lawmaker to ask what’s the basis for the exclusion.
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Looks like Tennessee wants to exceed Floriduh in some areas of punishment. A disturbing new law takes effect on July 1, 2019:
https://narsol.org/2019/06/new-tennessee-legislation-will-destroy-hundreds-probably-thousands-of-families/
Scratch Tennessee off my list of possible places to move to…..
It’s all about control, Florida agencies don’t want sex offenders to State their opinion, can’t you hear and see you’re their puppet on strings.
Sent the following to the article writer:
Mr. Sher,
In the above article you wrote, I read the following:
“Proponents say restoring voting rights can provide a sense of pride for ex-offenders re-entering society, helping them remain rooted. They say a rights restoration law in Florida is associated with a 12.8 percent reduction in recidivism.”
I’m really curious as to the source of the claim. Since the voting rights restoration law in Florida (known as Amendment 4) just went into effect about 6 weeks ago, it seems unlikely that it would have any effect on recidivism so soon. A specific figure like 12.8 strikes me as fabricated. Further, what exactly is the “association” between the aforementioned law and the recidivism rate? In other words, are these just empty or fabricated claims?
Looking forward to your response.”
Our whole community needs to start calling journalists to task as well as politicians. If inflammatory articles like this don’t allow for comments, email the reporters that wrote them, or their editors. The 4th branch of government needs to hear that not all of their readers are registry nazis.
If they are precluded from voting then they should be except from paying taxes! Taxation without representation was cause for starting the revolutionary war
If the Tuttle causeway was in Tallahasie and all the press right outside the state offices instead of 5 or 600 miles south I think the fire would be under the right people’s butts for a change