Florida Felon List Down, Not Out
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| Fri, 10-15-2004 - 11:49pm |
Here's the link: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0%2C1283%2C64182-2%2C00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1
02:00 AM Jul. 13, 2004 PT
The Associated Press also reported that many on the purge list had no criminal records but had names similar to felons living in the same community. The felon list came under additional scrutiny because it included some voters who had valid voting rights but needed to re-register after a prior purge. Claiming that such a rule violated federal law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida threatened to sue the state.
"Any further pronouncements from this administration that we are headed for an error-free election should be treated with a good deal of skepticism," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
His organization encouraged county supervisors to opt against using the list at all this year, as many chose to do in 2000.
Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood announced over the weekend that the purge would be abandoned this year after the Sarasota Herald-Tribune discovered that felons who were identified as Hispanic were left off the purge list, because the voter database didn't recognize Hispanic as a race.
That was good news to supervisors, who were unsure a purge could even be completed by the general election on Nov. 2.
"I just wish the legislators had looked at time frames a little bit closer when they passed these laws," Krauss said. "They moved the election earlier than it normally is, and they made early voting go a week earlier than it was, but they didn't take anything about verifying this database into account when they did those things."
She considered hiring a private investigator to verify the accuracy of the list but remained skeptical that anyone could finish the job in time for the nearest election.
But the list is not out of business forever. The purge must occur before the 2006 election. And while the identified glitches should get corrected, more may still surface.
The 2006 database, renamed the Florida Voter Registration System, will involve closer collaboration between the State Department and other agencies such as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Office of Executive Clemency and Technology Office. In many states, those agencies fall within the same department. But in Florida there has traditionally been little communication between the offices.
Several interest groups still decry the practice of purging felons from the rolls.
"If the governor and his cabinet members were serious about helping former felons rehabilitate their lives and become productive tax-paying members of society, they would have done what most states in this country do -- and that's automatically restore people's rights after they have been released from prison and completed their supervision," Simon said.
| Fri, 10-15-2004 - 11:53pm |
