Florida voter rolls could swell with felons who have rights restored

BY JOHN KENNEDY

The Orlando Sentinel

 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - (KRT) - More than 20,000 felons could join Florida's voter rolls in time for the November election because they've had their civil rights restored over the past year, Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday.

That possible influx of voters is sure to add even more political uncertainty to Florida, already one of the nation's fiercest presidential battlegrounds. The governor's brother, President Bush, is working feverishly to improve on his 537-vote victory here from four years ago.

But Gov. Bush downplayed any broader political intrigue. Critics have contended that the Republican governor has been slow to restore the civil rights of felons for fear that they would become a strong voting bloc for Democrats.

"We have a duty first and foremost, and I intend to carry out that duty, and I don't worry about the ramifications of that," Bush said, after sitting with other Cabinet members as the state clemency board.

Others said Thursday's announcement was intended to deflect renewed criticism of the state's election system, which has been highly scrutinized since 2000's presidential contest ended with a 36-day legal struggle that ultimately had to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.

This year, new concerns are being raised about the state's electronic voting machines and the state's decision last month to order county elections supervisors to purge more than 47,000 possible felons from voter rolls. Thousands of Floridians were purged from voter rolls or barred from casting ballots in 2000 based on faulty felon lists.

"The governor is grasping at straws to find some good news," said Scott Maddox, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. "It's clear we have a flawed system in Florida."

Florida is among only a half-dozen states that do not automatically restore civil rights to people released from prison or completing their felony sentences.

But in a lawsuit brought by black state legislators, a Tallahassee judge ordered the state last year to help 124,000 felons who finished their sentences over a 10-year period ending in 2002. The court ruled the state had failed to inform them of the steps needed to seek rights restoration.

The total announced Thursday is by far the greatest number of civil-rights restorations in recent years.

"I think that's terrific news," said Joseph Agostini, a spokesman for the Florida Republican Party. "We are of the position that every legal vote should be counted."

Randy Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, which is representing the Conference of Black State Legislators in the lawsuit now under appellate court review, acknowledged the restoration process is working better.

But he remained critical of a complicated system that has left an estimated 400,000 felons barred from voting. About half of those people are black, a constituency that votes overwhelmingly for Democrats.

Berg said Bush and the clemency board are empowered to repeal the rule and automatically restore voting rights to felons, which former Gov. Reubin Askew and the Cabinet did for a group in 1975.

"Any caring individual ought to want to see these people have their rights restored," Berg said. "It's just good public policy."

Bush, though, defended Florida's system.

"I'm comfortable with this process," Bush said. "I think it's a fair process."

Those who want their rights restored must have their cases investigated by state officials. For people with lesser felony offenses, rights can be restored automatically following a review. Others can get a hearing before the governor and Cabinet.

Since last June, 20,861 felons have had their rights restored without a hearing, giving them authority to register as voters, serve on juries and take jobs with state-licensed firms.

That number includes some of the 124,000 felons who are part of the lawsuit and others who were part of a backlog in the state's clemency office that stood at 62,000 people two years ago.

The number of rights restorations is expected to continue to climb - 735 people are poised to be added in coming weeks - as the once-massive backlog is reduced, Bush's office said.

Bush's announcement came during a routine monthly meeting of the clemency board, which consists of the governor, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson and Attorney General Charlie Crist.

Throughout the three-hour meeting, more than 90 cases were reviewed by the board, including dozens of felons who appeared in person to make their pitch to have civil rights restored, or in some cases, the right to carry a gun.

Matthew Lee Dobbs, 31, of Sorrento, was denied gun rights by Bush and the Cabinet, but had his civil rights restored Thursday, 15 years after he was involved in a vehicular homicide.

Dobbs said he wanted to vote, and that his 6-year-old daughter, Hailey Rae, often pesters his sister for an "I Voted" sticker on Election Day.

"I've had to say, `Daddy (doesn't) vote,'" Dobbs said. "She asks me why, and that hurts."

Dobbs said he plans to vote for President Bush over Democrat John Kerry.

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