CALL TO ACTION: Amendment 4 Passed: Now what about us?
NOTE Given the response to this post we are including a preamble.
The ACLU is a friend. The ACLU of Florida (and national) represents the homeless registrants in Miami-Dade and the ACLU of Michigan has done great things for it’s state and those in the 6th Circuit. The point is here is not to bash the ACLU, but sometimes nudging a friend is different than pushing the opposition. That means acknowledging and respecting their help over the years while making principled criticisms.
As an organization that has been involved in the legal challenges, ACLU has first hand knowledge of how registrants have been treated, which is all the more reason they should be embarrassed over Amendment 4.
These organization are now celebrating the victory without mention of those who are now subject to further stigma.
Now that they have their victory on Amendment 4, let’s urge them to take action to ensure that a fundamental right like voting is not taken away from anyone. They have their victory on Amendment 4… now what about us?
This past Tuesday, voters in Florida passed Amendment 4. Now the Florida Constitution will be amended to restore the voting rights of former felons who have completed their sentences…
… except people convicted of murder or sex offenders.
The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and the ACLU invested millions into getting this amendment passed and they were successful.
They were also successful in discriminating against us!
For organizations like FRRC which claims to be, “committed to ending the disenfranchisement and discrimination against people with convictions”, or the ACLU which, “works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties” they certainly threw us under the bus quite easily!
Contact the ACLU and FRRC and let them know you don’t appreciate being discriminated against.
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Couldnt say Murders and Rapist
The amendment brought to the attention of murderers and person on the register. They could have left that part out and just have it say all Felons and it would have passed. I will no longer be financially supporting the ACLU. This proved to me they are just phony lawyers.
I agree…there was no need to segregate. that was a malicious, deliberate, after thought. we want equal rights for everyone…except….you..you..or you…because we dont like you too..
Okay…so just exactly what are we supposed to say to these guys who (courtesy of Ron Book) worked this “legislative magic” with the same ignorance and prejudice that they held while we were in prison with them and the same ignorance as the general public? I’m not sure that i can address them in a civil tone at this point.
ACLU has certainly lost all my respect. They are going to have to do something spectacular to get it back. They have lost all my financial support too. I disagree that they could not have passed the bill otherwise. It just would have taken more public education on the subject.
I think your frustration is being focused against the wrong people. Without the ACLU’s good work, very little would get done to help registered sex offenders. The 2 organizations mentioned were faced with the problem of either including ALL felons in the proposal and having it shot down by the voters, or drafting one that actually had a chance to pass. I don’t think for one minute that the ACLU is done with the voting rights issue. It wasn’t a case of them throwing us under the bus. They were just doing what is possible this year. The discrimination was already there in the law. It hasn’t changed. Certainly everyone should contact the ACLU with their concerns, but criticizing them and accusing them of discrimination accomplishes nothing. We want them on our side.
Gerald – we don’t disagree. We contacted the ACLU previously and have heard nothing on this topic. We would love to hear what their plans are to include us.
I think its obvious..the ACLU used a fear and smear tactic to add weight for everyone while digging a hole for you..Those murderers and sex offenders are the bad ex-felons so Please let these “good ex-felons” vote they are “good ones”, they are not murderers and sex offenders
and we need to reintegrate them…..The worse they make you look and the more they play on the sex offender fear the more rights they get for others and the deeper they bury you..when your friends are digging your coffin dont expect help from your enemy’s..
” The 2 organizations mentioned were faced with the problem of either including ALL felons in the proposal and having it shot down by the voters, or drafting one that actually had a chance to pass. ”
So they used us as a sacrificial lamb in a desperate attempt. No matter how you slice it Gerald, it is what it is. It was a political advantage (get more liberal votes in with minorities for future elections) and they desperately took it at our expense. Again, it is what it is. I’m not saying that it was the ACLU’s idea, It was possibly those who helped fund$$$ and heavily promote it – I can bet the Books had a huge hand in there. But they got their hands dirty too. The amendment should of been written as is – felons would get their voting rights back, and that is it. Leave the details out. Most people I talked to didn’t even know sex offenders were excluded.
Imagine if Martin Luther King would of said ” some ” black folks need to be sacrificed for the greater good ?? Point is, it is all of us or nothing and the ACLU being a ” legal ” institution should of known better.
I would rather lose doing it right, then win doing it dirty.
This was a political movement by the Democrats I hope they lose every election till they get it right. They saying a habital offender can go out and carjack or rob some grandma for her welfare check go to jail then get to vote upon release I am glad I got out of that state They make discrimation in the States’ Constitution They just said you can go out and hurt sex offenders and get to vote again
@Joseph
Exactly, I agree completely and feel the same way in hoping they lose every single election for years to come until all of this is made right.
Gerald,
How long are we supposed to wait? I’ve waited 13 years already, while some thug who just got off probation for beating down a woman in a wheelchair gets to vote immediately??? Am I supposed to wait 4 or 8 more years for a chance to beg at the feet of DeSatanist?
So what role has the ACLU played in the rights restoration lawsuit against Scott? Has it been dismissed since Amendment 4 passed? Speaking of the ACLU, like many organizations, they rely on donations. Endorsing Amendment 4 has expanded their potential donor base by over one million people, so it was an easy decision for them to throw 35,000 or so registered citizens under the bus, since they obviously don’t need our financial support.
JZ, I feel your pain. I’ve been on Michigan’s registry for more than 15 years. I got all excited when Does v Snyder ruled the state could not add retroactive requirements on. Yet, we are still waiting for Michigan to obey that decision. The ACLU has filed a second lawsuit to force the state to do so, but they are still dragging their feet. I suspect lawyers at the ACLU in Florida are researching the possibility of a constitutional challenge based on equal protection under the law grounds. Plus now that Florida’s voting rights ban is narrowed to only sex offenders and murderers, it is easier to argue that discrimination is taking place. If the federal courts were ever to rule that sex offenders were a protected class because of the extreme amount of discrimination they face, it would boost our cause tremendously.
@gerald
I’ve got 25 years on the registry and like you, I’ve been waiting for Michigan to comply with the first Snyder ruling. We will hopefully get our answer in January or February. You seem to have some of the most common sense posts on this site. What do you think of our new governor and attorney general? It seems to me that this was the best possible outcome for us. Schuette was never going to let us off without a major fight but it appears that our new attorney general has worked at a law firm and personally tried getting people off the registry. It was a big point made by her conservative opponent in negative attack ads leading up to the election. It just seems to me that this is the political environment finally that is most conducive to a favorable ruling in Does II….I’m interested to hear your thoughts
Josh, Bill Shuette has been an unreasonable jerk all of his career in Michigan politics. He’s the type that would welcome the return of the death penalty in Michigan, and who wouldn’t even apologize if an innocent person were put to death. I hope with all my heart that his career in politics is over. While Governor Snyder did do a few good things, such as closing more prisons to save the state money, and forcing the parole board to start giving inmates a fairer chance at parole, I believe Shuette would have used lying fear propaganda to reverse those actions. We never know exactly how new attorneys general will act once in office, but Michigan’s voters made the best choice available. And since our new Governor’s top priority seems to be improving our roads, I’m hopeful that she will not do anything to increase the prison population needlessly again. Their reactions to the ACLU’s current lawsuit to force the state to obey the rulings in Does v Snyder will be very interesting.
Umm if you had included all felons and not mentioned or singled out RSO’s and murderer’s as the ACLU did it still would have passed as it was passed with 64% approval. So worst case it passes with 55% because of RSO’S were on it. in a day and age where people want to see everyone get a fair share being included in the amendment would have made a difference to them. This was just another excuse to exclude or degrade us. well done ACLU . and as far as your comment that they are responsible for helping the RSO’s i would ask what exactly have they helped us with? every day law makers pass more and more legislation to ban us from working/living/traveling etc..because of the registry we are hassled in life/work/ jail so maybe its just me but i have not seen a case where the ACLU has stepped up and done something to make our world better. We should have been on that amendment, period end of story
Sorry, but it had to have 60% to pass. That’s why Amendment 1 failed, it had only 58%. That surprised me since the illiterate electorate voted over 60% on all the other ones.
“No hope” I think you are underestimating what kind of nasty fear mongering would have hit the airwaves if sex offenders had not been excluded from the amendment. The public has been so scared by the phony propaganda against sex offenders that I believe it would have doomed the proposal. All you would have seen on TV is that it was an amendment to allow dangerous predators to vote. That’s how those haters operate. Hate propaganda seems to work well nowadays, unfortunately.
Actually, i live and understand the fear mongering as you put it, but the average voter out there would have been unaware(as they are on many issues) that ex felons of any kind would have been different if we just said lets give rights back to all people that did their time. It is the fact that the ACLU singled out us and murderers that made it a big deal. There is an old saying that there is no problem until you make it a problem. Truth be told my case was unusual the judge did not take away my rights even though i am forced to register i can still vote and so on but i would have liked to to have see an win for any RSO. Just once especially here in Florida
does it really matter? at least with this amendment we have the same rights as murderers. That, to me, is a victory. YESSS!!!!
When Injustice becomes law, resistance is duty!!!
It would be nice to know their intentions for SO’s. I agree with Gerald’s assessment though about lowering the possibility of amendment passing if it included sex offenders. It still a win though, now that people voted for felons maybe now they can make a new fight for SO’s without lowering the odds of felons.
Im off the registry and still can’t vote but I’m happy other felons can vote. Hopefully now that they are voting we have a better chance.
As far as the pecking order goes, what would make you think RSO’s would be prioritized over felons without any conditions?
Perhaps because of the extremely LOW rate of reoffense for both RSO’s and murderers. It’s discrimination plain and simple and to think that its’s anything else is ludicrous.
I don’t know the history of the Florida chapter of the ACLU, but here in Texas they won’t even respond to any type of discussion pertaining lending help to Texas registrants. I can’t think of a single class of individuals more discriminated upon and despised from those all across the cultural quilt of America than those of us on the registry.
Until they, ACLU, at least respond and offer an explanation as to why they will not help us, I WILL NOT lend a single penny to helping them, at least not here in Texas. It does seem that they are helping in various parts of the country but seem very selective in the process.
“You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can be free only if I am free.” – Clarence Darrow People V Lloyd 1920
Yup, Clarence Darrow knew all too well… and with that ends these silly arguments in defense of the ACLU. They should be a shame of themselves being a legal organization and should of known better as John mentions above.
Amen brother! A LA our forefathers 1776!