Clemency files review seeks errors
The state looks for voters wrongly put on a list of potential felons because of records the clemency office kept.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published July 7, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - As controversy swirls around a list of potential felons who might be barred from voting, Florida officials are reviewing thousands of old clemency files to determine whether some voters were mistakenly disenfranchised.

Some people whose civil rights were restored before 1977 were excluded from a database used by state officials to identify felons who should be barred from voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Before 1977, the clemency office did not always maintain certain identifying information, such as birthdates. Names without such information were not included in a database the state used to identify potential felons who should be barred from voting.

That means some people might have been wrongly included on the list of potential felons.

The Brennan Center, which is suing the state on behalf of felons who cannot vote, called that a "serious flaw" in the state's review.

The center sent a letter last week to Florida's 67 elections supervisors, alerting them of the issue and urging them not to use the state's list of potential felons.

The clemency office is reviewing its files from before 1977, said Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the state's top elections official.

Five days ago, a state judge ordered the list of potential felons made public, striking down as unconstitutional a law that prohibited the public from copying the list.

Democrats complained that the state could disenfranchise hundreds of qualified voters, rekindling images of the 2000 election when countless voters were improperly labeled as felons and prevented from voting.

Elections supervisors are struggling to verify the identities of the 47,687 names on the list of potential felons. The supervisors must send letters to people identified as felons before removing them from the voter rolls.

The Brennan Center urged supervisors not to send those letters.

"Think about it," said Jessie Allen, associate counsel at the center, in a statement. "You're a formerly incarcerated person whose civil rights were restored many years ago. You open a letter that says state records identify you as a felon who is ineligible to vote. Plus, you may know it's a crime in Florida to vote if you know you're ineligible. So, even if the information is wrong, even if you still have that 30-year-old certificate proving the restoration of your rights, chances are you'll be reluctant to confront the state."

People identified as felons must prove to elections officials that they can legally vote. They can request a hearing with elections officials and appeal to a judge.

Susan Gill, Citrus County elections supervisor and president-elect of the state association of supervisors, said local elections officials will "err on the side of the voter."

The liberal People for the American Way Foundation said state officials have not given a "clear explanation" for why more than 2,100 voters were included on a list of potential felons even though their rights have been restored by the governor and Cabinet.

Those voters, who are disproportionately Democratic and African-American and from South Florida, registered to vote before their rights were restored. The state contends they must register again to vote.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Florida Justice Institute threatened to sue over the issue.

The St. Petersburg Times found as many as 1,000 names on the statewide potential felons list who completed their sentence and improperly registered to vote before they received clemency.

Another 1,000 people on the list appear to have committed crimes after they were granted clemency and might not be eligible to vote. In Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, the Times found about 380 names of people who appear to have received clemency but are on the state's list of potential felons.