Jesse Jackson says purging felons from voter rolls is typical South disenfranchisement tactic

By ANDREA ROBINSON

arobinson@herald.com

Harkening back to the 1960s when Southern states used poll taxes and intimidation to shut blacks out of elections, Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of engaging in ''disenfranchisement schemes'' in asking counties to purge felons from voter rolls.

''This is a typical South [tactic], denying the right to vote based on race and class. You see classical voter disenfranchisement,'' Jackson said. ``These schemes to deny or surpress voters are not new schemes.''

Jackson was in Miami to drum up public opposition to Florida's use of the controversial felon removal lists. He used the stop to offer harsh criticisms of Bush, and state elections officials.

Those so-called purge lists are a thorny issue for civil rights leaders. Given the makeup of Florida's prison population, the people on the lists are likely overwhelmingly blacks, who generally vote for Democratic Party candidates.

Last month, state officials ordered local elections supervisors to begin removing convicted felons from voter rolls. The state has a list of nearly 48,000 registered voters who it says may be felons, based on records compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and cross-checked with the Office of Executive Clemency.

Bush has defended the practice of barring ex-prisoners from voting unless their rights are restored by the state. Florida is one of a handful of states that require felons to apply to have their rights restored.

Just last week, Bush called it a ''fair process.'' In the past he has emphatically said that ex-felons should not be allowed to vote without getting their rights restored.