Felons list errs, some argue
About 40 county residents who received clemency are on the list of felons who could be taken off voter rolls.
By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer
Published July 3, 2004

NEW PORT RICHEY - Charles A. Bodessa has broken into pay phones, assaulted a police officer and tried to burn his wife's car.

Bodessa, 51, is a felon. He also is a dedicated voter.

"It means I'm an American," Bodessa said Friday of his participation in politics. "It means I stand up for liberty, freedom, equality."

In Florida, felons permanently lose their voting rights unless they petition to have them restored. Which Bodessa has done.

So the New Port Richey man, who ran afoul of the law in the 1970s and 1980s, was upset to learn his name is on a list of 47,000 felons in Florida who face possible removal from voter rolls. In Pasco alone there are 765.

"The more I think about it, the more aggravated I am," Bodessa said. "I took the necessary steps to get things straightened around, to get my rights back. I got clemency."

Bodessa was one of about 40 Pasco County residents who have been granted clemency but appear on the list. On the surface, it appears the state made a mistake.

A judge ordered the list's release Thursday following a case filed by CNN and other news organizations, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Democratic groups.

"It's not fair. I did everything I'm supposed to do," said 36-year-old San Antonio resident George Andrews, who was convicted of credit card fraud a decade ago. (He said the card was in the name of his former wife and that he paid the bill.)

One felon contacted by the Pasco Times quickly called Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning to complain about being on the list. The man, who lives in New Port Richey, said his crime was a thing of the past and he has spent a long time rebuilding his life.

He, too, had been granted clemency and he wanted off the list.

County election officials such as Browning are supposed to verify the list's accuracy before removing voters from the rolls. Browning said he will hire a private firm to review the 765 Pasco residents on the list.

Controversy over the list's accuracy was heightened by a Miami Herald story on Friday that estimated more than 2,100 felons on the master list are eligible to vote due to clemency. But the story had been called into question by the state Division of Elections, which says the newspaper might not have looked at all the data available.

Browning might have exposed another hole. The Pasco elections supervisor explained that anyone who registered to vote after being convicted but before being granted clemency still is ineligible to vote. "I think that accounts for a large number of those people on the list," Browning said.

That would explain how people like the man who called his office Friday afternoon appeared on the list. The man, Browning said, was convicted of a felony in 1989 and registered to vote in 1990. He received clemency in 1991. In cases like those, Browning said he probably will send the person a letter explaining their voter registration has been canceled, but that they can re-register.

Bodessa's case is not clear, either.

His voting rights were restored in 1981, but he was convicted of another felony in 1987 - and his right to vote was taken away again. He told the Times that he received clemency a second time, and registered to vote in 1996. He said he cast ballots for Bill Clinton in 1996 and Al Gore in 2000.

This time, Bodessa said, he plans to vote for John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"I understand why they do it, to weed out the people who have not sought their rights back," he said of the felons list. "But our country, our laws and the principles we stand for are very important to me. The only way I can take part in that is to vote in state, federal and local elections."