Florida leads the nation with over 1 million citizens disenfranchised and unable to vote due to felony convictions. The path to having their voting rights restored is long and difficult, and has been found unconstitutional by a federal judge.
This November, Floridians who are able to vote will determine whether convicted felons who have completed their sentences will automatically have their voting rights restored. With two glaring exceptions: those convicted of murder or a sex offense.
The problem with Amendment 4 is that it perpetuates the discrimination and bigotry of disenfranchisement against a subclass of ex-felons – those convicted of murder or sex crimes. All the talk of Amendment 4 being about second chances, redemption and reintegration into the community rings hollow when it excludes certain former prisoners. No other state constitution, according to the Sentencing Project, singles out citizens by conviction offense with respect to restoration of voting rights.
Around the country, organizations led by former prisoners have made “All of us or none” a rallying cry against this type of discrimination. At a base level, Amendment 4 pits members of an impoverished and oppressed community against one another.
Nowhere in our history has extending the right to vote been conditioned upon depriving voting rights to another group of people. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated for civil rights for black Americans, he did so for all black Americans, not just some. And more importantly, not at the expense of Latino Americans, Native Americans or Asian Americans.
When suffragettes fought for voting rights for women, they did so for all women, not just some. The struggle for marriage equality by the LGBTQ community did not seek marriage rights for only certain LGBTQ people; they sought it for everyone and not at the expense of any other group.
If Amendment 4 passes, it will enshrine into our state constitution discrimination against convicted murderers and sex offenders that will make enfranchising them virtually impossible. While some may point to the serious nature of their offenses, they have nothing to do with voting. The punishment of disenfranchisement does not fit the crime.
I was convicted of murder in Washington State in 1987 for killing a drug dealer during an armed robbery. In 1990, while serving a 25-year sentence, I started a nonprofit magazine from my prison cell which today employs 18 people to advocate for just, humane and fair criminal justice policies. I pay taxes, work to improve my community and am a productive member of society. But the backers of Amendment 4 would deny me the right to vote.
I encourage Florida voters to vote against this ballot initiative.
Paul Wright, a Florida native and honorably-discharged veteran, is the founder and executive director of the Lake Worth-based Human Rights Defense Center, a nonprofit that advocates for progressive criminal justice reform.
What are the names of the disgusting b*astards that proposed this exception to the law? We need to flood their inboxes and phones.
This is the group: https://floridarrc.com/
Bunch of hypocrites. Fighting against disenfranchisement and discrimination by means of doing the same – disenfranchisement and discrimination – . It is disgusting and no different than politicians who pass such unconstitutional laws against us. I really hope people vote against it or don’t vote at all for it and it fails wretchedly flat on its face because of such reason. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I don’t think it’s fair to call that organization names. They were struggling to find a proposal that actually has a realistic chance to pass. I hope it does. It would at least be a start. But what good would it be if an amendment was proposed that got voted down by a wide margin? If it passes, we go forth and keep fighting for equal treatment in the courts and through the legislatures.
No, it’s not good. The mentality of whoever came up with this amendment is Un-American and In-Humane. Either ALL felons get their voting rights restored, such as in states where clearly more intelligent people live, OR we don’t restore rights to anyone. We have NO right to ‘Pick and Choose’ here. This will NOT make it easier later. It should have been done in a humane way the first time. Clearly, these people don’t know how to read, or else they would have read that murders and sex Offenders have LOWER rates of recidivism than every other felony type that they’re fighting to restore rights to. Morons, for lack of a better word. However, I still applaud their efforts, as discriminatory as they may be. Gathering support for an amendment is not easy, they just should have done it in the Morally right way.
When my probation ends soon I will not be asking the bureaucracy to give me something…voting rights…but return something to me that I spent 29 years earning.
The most disgusting thing about it is that no one ever even feels the need to give a rational reason for excluding sex offenders from the right to vote. It has nothing to do with public safety. The only reason is that ex-felons in general are more likely to vote for one party than another.