The number of former, non-violent felony offenders now allowed to vote in Florida has slowed so significantly even less of them are now exercising that basic right than in 2007, the last time specific legislation was enacted to make the process more amendable.
But since Republican Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011, not only has he instituted such tactics as prolonged waiting periods to stymie such progress, civil liberty activists now consider the state’s rights restoration policies the most restrictive in all the nation.
At the root of the scheme seems a blatant attempt to frustrate and suppress minority voters, thereby harming democratic candidates. And it hardly marks the first time the somewhat abrasive Scott has been charged with such discrimination.
During the 2012 presidential election, Scott and other statewide Republicans were charged with using tactics ranging from closing polling places early to cutting the number of early voting days, all in a futile effort to win more elections for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Exit polls from the 2010 gubnutarial election also show only one in 10 black voters supported Scott’s initial campaign.
Since Scott took office, only 420 ex-felons have had their voting rights restored compared to 85,000 in 2008, the last year in the term of former Gov. Charlie Crist and the first full year after the state’s executive clemency board followed his recommendation and begin automatically restoring rights.
Couple that harsh reality with the disproportionate number of black Floridians now stigmatized as felons or are part of the state’s prison population--- 31.5 percent even though they only account for little more than 16 percent of the overall populous--- and you can see why the Desmond Meade’s of the world are so concerned.
“It weakens the political voice in the African-American community,” said Meade, 45, who even though he’s fully served his sentence and is now in law school still hasn’t been able to get his voting rights restored. “The plight of African-Americans becomes basically a political non-factor.”
Florida is hardly alone in its hardline discrimination. Virginia, Kentucky and Iowa all also permanently deny felons the right to suffrage unless approved by the governor or the state’s clemency board.
According to the Washington-based Sentencing Project Advocacy Group, nearly 6 million ex-felons now have been disenfranchised, with Florida leading the way at roughly 1.5 million, one out of every five voting-age African Americans being among them.
“This is one of the few government programs that has worked precisely as it was designed, namely to try to suppress the vote of as many African-Americans as possible," said Howard Simon, ACLU Florida’s executive director. "It was designed that way in 1868, and it continues to have that effect in 2013."