Voter rights effort lagging

By Errin Haines
The Orlando Sentinel
Posted June 27 2004

DAYTONA BEACH · The American Civil Liberties Union said Saturday that a referendum to automatically restore felons' voter rights will likely fall short of the number of signatures needed to make the November ballot.

Speaking at a workshop on restoring former felons' rights, Larry H. Spalding, who runs the ACLU's Tallahassee office and is the organization's head legislative lobbyist, said the referendum is more likely to go before voters in 2006.

If passed, the amendment would automatically restore felons' civil and voting rights after their release from prison and post-conviction supervision.

Florida is among only seven states nationwide that do not automatically restore the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences. Under Florida law, former felons must request to have their rights reinstated. The governor and a clemency board must approve each application.

Spalding acknowledged that most who began the process at the meeting would not be eligible to vote in time for the November election. He and elected officials urged the crowd not to be discouraged.

"The process is overwhelming," Spalding said. "The idea is that people like you don't have persistence. You've got to prove them wrong."

Many ex-convicts are not aware they need to apply, or become frustrated with the paperwork and hearing required for reinstatement. The workshop attracted about 45 people, including some ex-felons who have had their rights restored but fear they might be mistakenly purged from the voting rolls.

It also attracted some who did not know they could get their rights back.

George Searles of Daytona Beach had not voted for years after a fight during Bike Week led to a felony conviction 14 years ago for resisting arrest with violence. For most of that time, Searles said he did not mind not being able to cast his ballot.

"We had a Democratic president for eight years, and I was happy," he said. "But I want to vote Democrat. I'm not happy with the Republican Party."

The 45-year-old construction worker was not sure whether he would be able to vote this year, so he came to the workshop and was happy to learn that there is no statute of limitation on starting the re-enfranchisement process.

"They said it was most likely that I'll be able to get them back, since it's an old charge that wasn't that bad. I feel good about that," Searles said while filling out a restoration of civil rights application.

While about a quarter of ex-felons who apply get their rights restored without a hearing, Spalding said, the process is usually at least a year or longer. The state's Executive Clemency Board meets four times a year.

Last month, more former felons joined the estimated 600,000 disenfranchised people statewide when the Florida Secretary of State's Office purged an estimated 50,000 names from voter rolls for November.

The purge of felons from Florida voter rolls before the 2000 presidential election sparked a landmark voting rights lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the ACLU and three other groups on behalf of black voters. The federal class-action lawsuit charged that minority voters were widely prevented from casting ballots in seven counties, including Leon, Orange and Volusia.

The state settled that lawsuit in July and as part of the agreement, about 30,000 ex-offenders released between 1992 and 2001 were supposed to get their rights back soon after.