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Home Front: Politix
Florida Lets Most Felons Regain Voting Rights
2007-04-06
Gov. Charlie Crist persuaded Florida’s clemency board today to let most felons easily regain their voting rights after prison, saying it was time to “leave the offensive ranks” of states that uniformly deny ex-offenders such rights.

The change is a major step for Florida, which bans more people from the polls than any other state, but it is not as drastic as Mr. Crist had hoped. Two of his fellow Republicans on the clemency board rejected his original plan to grant speedy restoration to everyone except murderers and sex criminals.

Florida has as many as 950,000 disenfranchised ex-offenders, far more than any other state, of whom the vast majority are black. Other states have repealed or scaled back similar bans in recent years, but roughly five million former felons remain barred from the polls nationwide.

Until now in Florida, most felons who finished prison and probation time had to submit to a lengthy review and waiting period if they wanted their civil rights back. But under the new rules passed today, the roughly 80 percent of ex-offenders whose crimes were not violent will win automatic rights restoration as long as they have paid any restitution owed to victims and have no pending criminal charges.
Posted by:Fred

#10  No, Steve, they haven't completely paid their dues to society. They may have atoned for the crime they were caught committing but simply by committing the crime they displayed egregiously bad judgment.

In addition, they cost the citizenry money and time in finding them and locking them up. They've also contributed to the climate of fear that has Americans spending TWICE AS MUCH on PRIVATE security as we spend on all American official police forces combined. Anyone with judgment poor enough to reinforce all those bad things does not deserve a voice in electing the people who will represent us. We do a good enough job of electing crooks on our own even without having the officially designated crooks able to play.
Posted by: Mac   2007-04-06 11:15  

#9  And replace lethal injection with one of those coin-op pony rides outside the grocery store. What the heck...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2007-04-06 10:41  

#8  Felons who have been released from prison have paid their dues to society. We want them to become law-abiding, correct? As they demonstrate they can do that, they should have the rewards that come with being a law-abiding citizen, including the right to vote.

I distinguish the usual versus the most serious felons -- murderers, pedophiles, etc. can be put into a special class who never regain their voting rights.

I'm willing to support this, though I'd use voting rights as a carrot -- keep your nose clean for a couple of years after release from prison, and you get to vote.
Posted by: Steve White   2007-04-06 10:41  

#7  How long before one of the felons goes to court and says "If I can vote, I ought to be allowed to have a gun, too..."
Posted by: M. Murcek   2007-04-06 10:40  

#6  I'm conflicted by this. 10 years ago I would have been in the boat against any of it, but as legislatures have up'ed the penalties on such offensives like DUI as felonies because they'd rather show that they're doing something rather than rigorously enforcing existing statutes, we starting to make less offenses into capital cases. There's a lot in the bunch that have forfeited their right, but there are others who are hammered because of posturing politicians needing recognition for reelection.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-04-06 08:49  

#5  They should NEVER get the vote back. What these fools have done is allow an overwhelmingly Democrat-favoring polity to further infect an already sick state. The criminologists believe that the average criminal commits 16 felony crimes before he ever spends the first day behind bars. I think that if you're bad enough that the justice system actually sends you to PRISON, you're too bad to ever regain your right to vote. If criminals are unhappy about losing their voting rights, they should have considered the consequences before they committed the criminal act.
Posted by: Mac   2007-04-06 07:03  

#4  And they will vote for whoever is softest on crime.
Posted by: Sneaze   2007-04-06 05:42  

#3  Florida has as many as 950,000 disenfranchised ex-offenders

Roughly 1 in 12 of the voting age population. Sure, I guess it could be as many as 16 million which is the total population.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-04-06 04:53  

#2  P.S. I know that alot of people in jail are also pretty decent.
Posted by: newc   2007-04-06 02:36  

#1  Hail thug rule? Law and order the end of the 42nd generation? 59th level of sin?
Posted by: newc   2007-04-06 02:34  

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