This article is biased against the South. It does not show the state of felon disenfranchisement across the entire United States after the Civil War. Even though it notes that 33 states still have some form of felon disenfranchise today--of which only eleven were members of the Confederacy--it still doubles down on the evils of the South.
3
Majority of felons are blacks and they are always suppressed . Also, the fear they may vote democratic. Unfortunately, if they behave like their fellow citizens they won't vote anyhow.
6
Granting the vote to felons is great news. This will almost certainly turn Florida permanently blue since southern blacks vote overwhelmingly for the D team. This is a death blow to the Trump reelection bid. We need to give Hillary another chance. She will win for sure. Hillary and Kamala 2020.
2
150 years? This story is completely false !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spent two years in Florida State Prison from 1980-1982 for Aggravated Battery. While I was incarcerated I took a class to get my civil rights back. I received them a few months after I was discharged. I've been voting since 1982! I wasn't able to get my gun rights back however.
7
It is essential now for Florida's re-enfranchised ex-felons to register to vote. They should register before Florida's Republican-majority legislature convenes in March to slow-walk implementation of Amendment 4, which is "self-executing" and needs no legislative muddling, according to the state's supreme court.
Meanwhile, Florida Senate Republicans are planning an amendment to raise the bar of public referenda on constitutional amendments to two-thirds rather than 60% of the vote to prevent the passage in future of such amendments. Amendment 4 passed with slightly less than 65% of the popular vote. Fortunately, this horse is free before the spiteful Florida GOP closes the barn door.
2
Why the sign in Spanish?
Although there is no law that proclaims English as national language, NYT has reported that courts refused to hear cases in languages other than English.
I am against the making of the field of official notices into a Tower of Babel of all the tongues written in various characters from the left to the right, vice versa, and from top to bottom. What is still lacking perhaps are notices to be read from down up and as mirror images.
1
It's not just about the right to vote. Where in the Second Amendment does it state that felons shall have no right to bear arms?
1
It's worth noting that this change still excludes anyone in Florida who was convicted of murder or sex-related crimes. Those felons still can not vote even after serving their full prison sentences. No matter their crime, if someone is out of prison, they should be able to vote.
3
For all of the commenters so convinced that Desantis is racist (I suppose on the "compelling" evidence of a single statement?) , take note that he and his cabinet just pardoned the Groveland Four, a group of young black men convicted of raping a white teenager in the late 1940's. This suggests an approach that is fair-minded, not bigoted. But please, don't let facts stand in the way of the imperative to gin up the masses.
7
In America, every good idea somehow goes wrong.
Back when being banned from the voting right was a punishment rather than a reward (see: voter turnout), it may have seemed like a good idea.
Then someone noticed this little principle could be used to disenfranchise a huge number of African-Americans. Must it always come down to this?
So if history is any guide, even as DeSantis moves to restore the vote with one hand, the other will be moving to offset the gain. Perhaps the Invisible Hand has noticed that China controls its citizens with the Internet generally, and not with felony convictions and imprisonment. In those latter measures, the United States is the clear leader. Perhaps the ruling class has decided our methods have become too expensive.
We should watch more the Invisible Hand, and less the hand waving the "reform."
3
@Charles Coughlin You're simply wrong. Right from the beginning, the goal of disenfranchising felons was to exclude the male black vote.
1
It is kinda scary, when you think about it ... about who members of the Aryan Nation will be most likely to vote for.
3
Nonsense.
The whole point of disenfranchisement was to function as a deterrant to those considering a life of crime.
Rewarding them is just pathetic.
9
@Objectivist
Most have served their sentence and learned a lesson about being law-abiding and deserve re-entry into society without further ostracization and scarlet letters denoting them as 'evil'.
Thank you for your cruel, unforgiving Calvinism.
19
@Objectivist
So rather than consider someone's debt to society paid to encourage their reintegration, we should continue to punish them? Nothing helps recidivism like letting someone out of jail only to isolate them from society in a different way.
5
What happens when convicted felons become the critical voting bloc in a tight election?
5
@Troglotia DuBoeuf
Democracy wins.
Russian-Republicans lose.
Welcome to America, comrade.
16
Florida must work to reform its public schools and make it a productive school system where religion must not interfere and pollute young minds of the state. But even some democrats like the other way to live in the medieval past.
FL Democrat Introduces Bill Requiring Public High Schools to Offer Bible Classes. Florida State Rep. Kimberly Daniels, a Democrat, has a history of promoting Christianity through the government.
Last year, she condemned witches and warlocks while calling on everyone to pray for Donald Trump. She responded to the Parkland massacre by getting public schools to put up “In God We Trust” signs than demand stricter control over guns. She’s even insisted she cured a friend’s cancer using an audio CD of Bible verses. Oh. And she once told a church crowd that she thanked God for slavery
4
It is hard to imagine a group less qualified to vote than convicted felons. Their deeds demonstrate their poor judgement, lack of empathy for the fellow citizens, and disrespect for civil order.
10
@Bongo
It is hard to imagine a better way to reintegrate people into society who have successfully completed their sentences, than to restore their right to vote. The sense of pride and and engagement with their broader community this reconnection will create should also naturally work towards reducing recidivism, a primary aim of punishment.
11
@Bongo
In a real democracy, who are you to decide which American citizens are "qualified to vote"?
Based on your criteria of judgement, empathy, and respect for civil order, I might decide that no American who voted for Trump in the last election is qualified to vote and should be excluded from any future voting.
19
@Bongo, when I was 18, I jumped over a fence into a Dole pineapple plantation to steal a pineapple on a dare from my equally immature friends. I was caught. What was I thinking? I was thinking like a really foolish kid, and I shake my head now. I wasn't convicted, as the company had more empathy than you, but if I had been, and done my 2 years in prison, I dare you to tell me I hadn't made up for my impetuous felony.
I'm perfectly qualified to vote, and my poor judgement taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. This is the danger of lumping your fellow citizens into big stupid groups like "convicted felons". America is not improved when a huge portion of her citizens are out of the loop unless........ you want an authoritarian system where suddenly YOU are no longer qualified to vote! Surprise!
It's funny how you sniff about all felons' 'lack of empathy for the fellow citizens'.....
17
Good to know that Louis C K, Matt lauer, Charlie Rose, Al Franken can never work again and will be hounded for the rest of their lives, while convicted rapists and murderers have good people fighting for their rights to vote for the Democratic Party,
Can’t wait for O.J to cast his vote for a strong women candidate,
5
@Ray L
There's a difference between restoring civil rights and one's reputation. There is no law preventing those men from working, but there was a law blocking these felons from having a voice in the government which must serve all of us.
4
@Ray L The restoration of voting rights does not apply to those convicted of murder, rape or a violent sexual offense. Get your facts straight. The amendment restoring voting rights had overwhelming support in a purple state. The people of Florida decided that it was wrong to disenfranchise for life and permanently relegate to second-class citizenship felons, many of whom committed nonviolent drug offenses, who have served their sentences.
6
@Ray L, wow. Did you know that the Florida law SPECIFICALLY excludes murderers and rapists?
Lots of things are felonies, Ray. Can you think of any non-murder, non-rape felonies? Oh, and this was NOT a Democratic party thing. Again, if you don't know that Republicans worked for this too, why not?
If insults are all you have, you might want to read the article first, so you have something besides "Look! Democrats!"
5
What? Murderers abd aggravated sex offenders who have served their time have not ‘paid their debt to society?
Why is that?
3
"... the buck stops with everyone.” Oh, so all this is your fault, and mine? We stormed out of the meeting with Chuck and Nancy, hired Manafort and Cohen, fired Comey and Sessions, think Putin is our best pal, and all the rest? Oops, our bad!
1
The standard argument against allowing felons to vote is based on a perverted morality. Felons have sinned, and must demonstrate their moral rehabilitation before voting again. Hey, boy, you should have thought about it before you committed whatever crime of which you were convicted.
But we set the moral bar after the War of Southern Treason. The Confederate traitors, who literally waged war against America, were allowed to vote. No felon, not even those on death row, committed more evil deeds than did the Confederate traitors. They killed, raped, and murdered hundreds of thousands of Americans. Even the 9/11 hijackers paled in comparison.
If Johnny Reb could keep his right to vote, so can any felon.
6
Amen!
2
I wonder if Florida will also restore felons' Second Amendment right to own a gun.
4
Thanks to Republicans.
Florida is notorious. In 2017 they added approximately 500,000 new voters and in the same year purged nearly the same amount. Could they all be from deaths and moves???? Let’s see how many of theses people actually get to vote.
3
Maybe, but I wouldn't say the sesquicentennial is all that great, considering Florida "monkeyed" that up by electing a racist Governor.
3
The subheading needs adjustment. NYT should add "by Republicans -- and Republicans alone". Otherwise it suggests bothsidesism, centrism, everybody does it, so the real culprits, Republicans, get off, as usual:
"...in a nation where voting rights remain under siege by Republicans -- and Republicans alone."
Journalism and op-ed writing in respectable outlets is no match for Republican burgeoning fascist politics in the 21st century. This is not good.
3
Thank god we helped those poor felons...my heart bleeds for them.
2
Why are not convicted murderers and rapists allowed to vote?
They served their time.
3
Black people were the target of this
Systematic racism
4
A great victory for social justice! BTW- Don't assume this new crop of ex-felons will vote Democrat. Because of this Trump will most certainly carry Florida in 2020!
6
Once someone has paid their debt to society, there should be no further impediments to them. The sentence served should be exactly that - the sentence served. It should not be the sentenced served, plus some additional arbitrary penalty like losing the right to vote.
Yes, ex convicts have made mistakes. That’s why they got convicted. It once they have paid for their mistakes, I see no reason to deny them the right to vote.
8
There is a footnote to this: Governor DeSantis does not want the law implemented and has called for a review so that the administration of the law is addressed by the legislature. Opponents of the governor have stated that no further legislation is required. But the governor is insisting that the meaning of the language that says that a former prisoner has completed his/her prison term must be clearly defined by the legislature. The governor is moving ahead to put the voter referendum on hold.
5
@Jay
DeSantis, is of course, a Republican, who would have never been elected had this new voter referendum rule been in place in November 2018.
Nothing in the world says "Republican" more than rejecting the will of the majority of the people.
There's nothing Republicans can't stand more than democracy.
Republicans are fundamentally unAmerican.
That is an excellent reason to never vote for them in your lifetime.
18
@Jay While I disagree with the idea that the legislature needs to weigh in on this constitutional amendment, the text is a case study in the ambiguity of language. It is debatable what "completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation" means precisely. The major issue is the status of a case where restitution and other monetary judgments have been reduced to civil liens. many prisoners and probationers end their terms without paying various costs, and it is arguable that he voters intended these obligations to be met before voting rights were restored. I believe this is a matter to be resolved between the local supervisors of election and the courts, but the amendment was unfortunately not as clear as some seem to think. Further, exactly what crimes are included in the "felony sex offense" category.
2
@Robert
Sorry Robert, but the word "term" was meant to be interpreted as the length of time of a sentence, as in "a twenty year term" in prison. No further definition is required. Sexual offenders convicted of felony offenses is also crystal clear wording.
Additional legislation is not required.
3
This is only the tip of the slowly melting Russian-Republican iceberg of nationwide voter suppression, voter file purges, and black-box vote counting that has sustained America as a right-wing backwater and oligarchic haven of corruption and corporate fascism.
Florida is wonderful news, but it's 2019, 156 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and the will of the American people is still struggling to emerge from the medieval Grand Old Plantation system of American feudalism and cruel Calvinism that has warped this country into the right-wing gutter to this very day.
Rigging the vote is what has sustained the modern Republican Party since the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965.
What does it say about a major political party - and the citizens who vote for them - that so nakedly and comprehensively rejects the will of the people via voter suppression laws, 50 different sets of random state voting rules, gerrymander, archaic Electoral College, undemocratic Senate, suspension of the Constitution to rig the courts, and the best industrial Grand Old Propaganda complex since Joseph Goebbels closed up shop ?
Not only is America not a democracy, it's not even a republic because the right to vote is systematically disenfranchised from start to finish.
The government already knows who its citizens are and can automatically register every one of them.
Instead, America remains a Russian-Republican farce.
D to go forward; R for Russian-Republican rot.
39
Yep, that' s what we need, restoration of voting rights to people who did nothing to earn that restoration except sit behind bars for which the rest of us paid, after having been apprehended by the police, for which the rest of us paid, then tried in courtrooms, by judges and juries, for which the rest of us paid, and be represented by court-appointed lawyers, for which the rest of us paid.
When they committed their felonies, they telegraphed that they didn't want to belong to the club known as "citizenry who obey the laws of the land."
No, they decided to live outside that club, outside our law--outlaws--by affirmative decision. They scoffed at the rest of us--fools working 9-5 and much longer, earning an honest living.
Membership in Club Americas comes too easily; all you have to do is be born into it, not earn it. So it is just as easily discarded by people who have no appreciation for what it means to a good citizen.
And now that they have served their terms behind the bars for which the rest of us paid, the fool voters of Florida and many other states are making the same mistake all over again: treating the right to vote as a big nothing, that you get for free, either by being born here or by sitting behind bars and then being let out. They call it paying their debt to society (by sitting behind bars). Nonsense. Society has the debt; the felons have not repaid a thing.
They ought to be given a chance to prove they have changed, and only then be allowed back in.
2
oxford96: our United States Constitution, unlike the U.K., does not recognize class or caste distinctions, nor, under our 13th Amendment, (Butler v. Perry) prohibitions on the duties of citizenship owed to the state as army, militia, jury service, and involuntary servitude, but then the law also prohibits forms of indeterminate debt bondage for repayment of debt to society as well as collateral punishment and denial of citizenship rights except for ones held under criminal sentence. America is a country of second chances, as early European immigrants in search of a new life well knew under new names, including ones possibly like yourself, or as your desperate ancestors, as for the grace of God, you are not one of those Floridian inmates formerly deprived of the right to vote. With this reform we are witnessing the power of American democracy, whether you approve or not.
2
@Oxford96
Many of the people who were in prison in Florida were there because of non-violent drug offenses, especially the black drug offenders as it was used to keep them from the vote where many if not most white drug offenders got off with probation. This is the shame of America and the racists who populate much of the country. Just so you know I am a white citizen and I understand injustice when I see it.
Automatic voter registration, no ID's required, early voting, vote harvesting...what could possibly go wrong? Venezuela did a similar thing.
1
Florida GOP already trying to find ways around the will of the people. What else is new.
10
Once in a while, our crazy and wonderful state does something right.
10
The Times and the ACLU fight for convicted felons to vote, maybe that’s appropriate, maybe they are really doing it out of a sense of “rights, not sure, certainly it helps the Democrats. On the other hand the Times has been an active cheerleader for the most egregious violations of due process and fairness that we have seen since the McCarthy era. And the ACLU has been silent. Since #MeToo began, any accusation of sexual misconduct, regardless of evidence, corroboration, or lack of criminality, regardless of the number of years ago it is alleged to have occur, can result in the complete destruction of a person’s life. They can still vote, but they can’t work, finish their education, and are turned into pariahs. If they have a high profile the media (including the Times) will relentlessly seek out further uncorroborated accusations to print to complete the trial by media show. The worst cases have occurred in the University setting where kangaroo courts were set up to comply with the Obama Title IX guidance. Male students are barely allowed to defend themselves and can be expelled with a mark on their record and no chance to complete their education elsewhere, some of these have been minority students. An NFL football player who had graduated was fired after his college reactivated an old case and found him responsible, without him even being told. The ACLU was silent. Individual rights and due process should not be political. The Times should be consistent.
2
It is great news. The Bush victory in 2000 was premised on falsely accusing people that they couldn't vote because of their felony convictions. The Bush campaign chicanery alone still didn't give Bush the victory. It took the GOP Supreme Court justices to intervene and call off the recount in Bush's favor.
7
As a signature collector for the petition to get the question on the ballot, I am proud of those who signed the petition, those who voted, and those men and women rejoining us as fellow voters. Thank you Florida!
15
It’s interesting to me that some people think that the folks whose rights have been restored won’t want to bother with registering and then voting. I’m sure there will be those who won’t, just like in the larger population; however I’m not sure about that. This is a right that has been restored by a vote of the people of Florida 65% of them! My guess is-and its only a guess-that a larger percentage of the ex-felons will vote than the percentage of registered voters. It would be interesting to see if that happens. And I know there is a fairly large number(though not the majority) of black ex-felons who have received the right to vote again; I wonder how many Hispanics there are since there is such a large Hispanic population in Florida. I did a bit of searching and couldn’t find any information about that.
2
Don't count your chickens until after the eggs hatch. Florida passes more amendments than it implements. Two examples; Florida voters approved commuter rail and then Governor Jeb Bush said "no" and that was the end of that. Florida voters approved an amendment to buy property to protect it from development so the legislature refused to fund it and that was the end of that. Let's see how many of these Florida felons actually get to vote in 2020 before we congratulate ourselves on passing another amendment.
8
Now, if only we could get rid of gerrymandering, and residents of Marion County (and many others) would no longer be able to outvote me 4 to 1...
6
I am very proud of being a Floridian and proud of the way my State voiced its position through the polls. Now we have some noise about probation and restitution related to the wording of the amendment.
Fortunately, that same force that went beyond partisan considerations will not allow the very few to jeopardize this big victory legitimized through the will of the people.
8
It’s hypocritical outrage at the felon voting disenfranchisement, just as it is also politically motivated, to selectively uphold voting rights, while ignoring the denial of other rights such as the 2nd, 4th and 8th Amendment rights.
Now that one natural right protected in our Constitution has been reaffirmed, to restore the Constitutional right to vote of 1.4 million Floridians with former felony convictions, why not apply the same logic to their Constitutional right to self-defense in the home with a firearm under our 2nd Amendment? The legal right to defend one’s life is just as valid no matter whose life is subject to illegal threat!
Also, why is there still no protection in Florida from illegal police search and asset confiscation without just cause? None from police brutality, and, as in the Whitey Bulger homicide, from inmate murder?
Nothing in our Constitution affirms one right in our Bill of Rights over another. Our Constitution makes our legal system quite different from that of countries like Canada, Britain and other Parliamentary democracies with special legislation protecting the government “power” to dispense or deny individual human rights.
Our Bill of Rights, in contrast, are founding rationales for this country’s purpose for being. Either restore all legal rights to lawful citizens or get rid of our Bill of Rights.
@Bayou Houma
By your reasoning, I don't see why prisoners can't have their voting rights while imprisoned--as well as all the other rights you mention. I mean, where in the Constitution does the state have the right to deprive anyone of his second amendment rights, ever?
4
I am hoping that these new voters can bring some balance to our very close elections in Florida, that always seem to tilt red.
During the recent mid-term, the enthusiasm on the ground was definitely for the Democrat candidates, Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson. Bigger crowds, more excitement and hope. Yet the votes, once again, went to the Republicans by a very thin margin.
It's been a long time since I have felt represented by a Florida governor. Now both my Senators are Republicans. Yet the Democrats are alive and well in Florida. We need representatives at the table.
71
@Beth Cioffoletti I feel your pain Beth. After moving here to Vero Beach where I felt like the only Democrat I was able to get involved along with a neighbor to the Democratic Woman’s Club which helps. We set up a booth at the town’s monthly street fair and I can’t tell you how many fellow Dems would come up to us so happy to learn there were Dems in VB. Although we weren’t very successful in the last election the number of Democrats voting increased and our candidates got more votes than ever before. Scott sickens me, he is an evil man and crooked too.
17
Do you think this is unique to Florida? As a pro-life New Yorker, my governor has gone on the record saying I don’t belong in this state. It’s not a great feeling, is it (although most Times commenters will ignore the point and focus on the “pro-life” part)?
3
@Beth Cioffolettito
Yes, I also feel your pain, Beth, and especially appreciate the need for new voters to "bring some balance" to our very close elections. We need their wisdom and judgement to help us elect the very best people to office-and who better to provide that balance than people who have shown total distain for our laws and done nothing to prove they have changed one iota?
4
It would be interesting to see if these people actually do register to vote and then actually cast a vote. I’m sure some will but the vast majority will not.
Much ado about nothing in my book.
1
This is great to hear. The only way to overturn decades of racism in society that has led to impoverished school districts and a general lack of opportunity, which is a road to incarceration, is to have the incarcerated vote. They have the experience to overturn the system. This will have a national effect due to Florida’s high population.
5
@Anthony
Perhaps you failed to read the entire piece to which you are responding, which made it quite clear that the vast majority of felons in Florida--70%--are not black. Thus this "racism" nonsense is just that: nonsense.
2
A little historical context and clarification: when Charlie Crist was governor he changed the rules by executive order so convicted felons could register and vote in cases where they completed the particulars of their sentence. THEN along comes Rick Scott, who scarcely won the governorship by a few votes, and then proceeds to implement some of the most draconian rules in the country so he could bar felons from the vote. This was Scott's doing -- yes, tantamount to voter suppression, yes, but the work of one man. A fraudster and huckster, whose company was investigated and fined millions for Medicare fraud, a man who took the Fifth Amendment hundreds of times in a deposition into the Medicare fraud. Among Gov. Scott's foibles: requiring state employees to refrain from using the term "climate change." Florida's fragile environment has been open to the highest bidder under Scott -- now U.S. Senator -- so is anyone shocked he personally prevented thousands from voting? Place the blame where it belongs.
34
So the Democratic strategy is saying the president is a criminal and the criminals should choose the president. Interesting.
3
@Mike Livingston
As a Florida resident who voted for Amendment 4, this issue had nothing to do with Democratic strategy. The question before the voters was "are we going to do what's fair?" versus sentencing someone who has completed their sentence and repaid their debt to society to a lifetime of partial citizenship. This was overwhelmingly supported and had bipartisan effort behind it.
32
@Mike Livingston
Simplistic and unhelpful. And uninteresting.
The president is not a criminal until and unless he is convicted of a crime. Time will tell.
Anyone who has served their time and has not committed any further crimes, has paid their debt to society and therefor has re-entered society with all that entails, including the right to vote.
That's how things work in our democracy.
12
@tronald
"Anyone who has served their time and has not committed any further crimes..."
Fine--but this Amendment immediately restores voting rights as I understand it, and there is no period during which we can assess whether they have not committed further crimes.
1
So why hasn't this been reversed by a State Court? Why hasn't someone filed suit against the decision and gotten an injunction? Why hasn't Florida's Republican party risen up in arms at the Blah blah blah of it all. Why are they sitting by and letting a Red State go purple? All this is going way to smoothly so far.
1
@Richard Mclaughlin
It was added to the state constitution. No way to overturn it without going back to the voters. The new governor tried to slow the implementation by the county voting boards with some nonsensical reasoning.
4
@Richard Mclaughlin
Florida, Oh Florida.
What a state, what a state of contradictions.
Blown, almost to pieces, by storms attributed to global warming yet capable of sending a climate change denying governor to the U.S. senate.
I believe that Florida is in a state of becoming...
Florida may be, finally, throwing off the republican spell/hallucination and snapping to, reborn into an unsympathetic but ultimately cathartic reality.
Florida may ultimately rise from the republican reality of "Atlantis of America" to something new...yet familiar.
It may be that the state of Florida, and the big, bad, federal government may be able to cooperate, with inspiration from (OMG!) our European Partners, a solution. We could even save money and go Dutch.
2
@Richard Mclaughlin
First, that should be "too," not "to." Perhaps that's an indicator of why you are ignorant of how our government works.
A state court has no say in a constitutional amendment unless something really egregious has happened. There is no injured party, uh, persons. Yes, probably will help the Dems overall. And your party's extreme gerrymanding in FL actually DID cause a lawsuit from that radical leftist activist organization, The League of Women Voters.
Second, it's only been two months. Surely you can understand it takes time to mount a lawsuit. (Unless you are presidential candidate GW bush.)
The Republican party is sitting by because that's all they can do. Yes, smooth. Government working as it should. Whoddathunk?
2
That bright spot was not the result of the Florida GOP suddenly becoming enlightened, it was because a ballot proposition during a blue wave election forced it down the throats of racist Republican legislature and governor.
29
@rich
Since 70% of felons in Florida are not black ,how do you consider this racist?
1
It's truly a house of blue mirrors (and fake news) when the Times editorial board claims voting rights are "under seige" when the number of votes caste in the recent mid-term election was the highest ever and the party out of power was able to muscle itself into control of one houses of Congress.
4
@John
Evidence of rights not under siege? Wow, I want you on my jury.
Voting rights are under siege all across American by requiring only specific ID's where for 250 years they were not needed. And here in Texas, a student ID, even if issued by a state institution, doesn't qualify, but your concealed carry permit does. And we all know how them members of each group are likely to vote.
In the last election, there were way too few voting machines on the TSU campus in San Marcos. She actually said in an open meeting looking into this that "We don't want all those Democrats voting." (paraphrased.)
Then there are the reductions in polling places, always in Democratic leaning precincts and the reduction in early voting hours.
Instead of saying there are no problems with voting rights because the House changed hands - I'm sure you said the same thing when it went Republican, right? - you should be saying it's a miracle that enough people got to vote the scoundrels out, stacked as the system has become.
11
The number of votes going up has as much to do with the population increasing as anything else. But to suggest that voting rights are not under siege is to ignore history. Look at the Governor’s race here in Georgia as a recent example. Brian Kemp went out of his way to make it as difficult as possible for people to exercise the right to vote.
As Secretary of State, he tried to close polling stations in predominantly African American Randolph County. He advocated for, and his GOP cronies passed “exact match” legislation that would reject a voting application for so much as a missing hyphen in a last name, or if a driver’s license identification says “Jim”, but the voter application said “James” that got rejected.
I could go on and on in just this one state, but nationally, the common threads of voter suppression tactics have the letters GOP stamped all over them.
2
A wonderful bright spot in an exceedingly dark century!!
14
A person commits a crime.There is no question about this; irrefutable evidence.
WHY may raise all sorts of issues.There are a range of crimes, against people. Against “things.” All sorts of temporary and more permanent implications and consequences.To more than just the “doer” and the “done-to.” To limb.To psyche. To life itself. The person is tried in a humane-“civil” manner, or not, and is adjudicated.Is or is not a model prisoner.
This “criminalized” person is paroled early. A sign that...This person completes the whole sentence. And this criminal, one time or many time, has more TIME added on because.Living where s/he has chosen to, post-avenging- punishment OR coerced opportunity for rehabilitation the right to vote, is taken away because...And because there is, and will always be, a reason given, which at best is descriptive but not an adequate explanation of why ALL non incarcerated eligible fellow Americans,who choose NOT to vote, continue to have this right.Or why Americans who enable a toxic WE-THEY culture which violates,daily, by harmful words and deeds, a created, selected, targeted “ the other(s)” are allowed to vote.Or even why elected and selected policymakers,local, regional and national, who enable voter suppression, anti-democratic gerrymandering,And other threats to democratic processes,values, norms,ethics and a range of ummenschlich behaviors have the right to vote? I vaguely remember being taught RIGHTS are a package with responsibilities.What are OURs?
@S.Einstein I grew up in Florida, and was a young adult when the Medellin cartel flooded our state with cocaine. Some of the friends with whom I grew up became involved with the burgeoning cocaine industry. I'm not defending their bad choices then.
Some lived, some died, some were incarcerated. We're all middle-aged and pretty boring now, and that time was long ago. Many of the convicted felons are now hardworking and fly right. They served their time, have turned their lives around and deserve the right to vote. How does lifelong disenfranchisement help them fit back into legitimate society?
31
@S.Einstein
What are our responsibilities or our rights?
What does it mean to be inhuman?
Who gave us, the humans, dominion over this planet?
Who says that while we evolve, others do not?
Why don't we pause, for a cosmic moment, and contemplate our dominion?
We are, after all, in the process of destroying our planet.
So, it may be best to view the republican party not as a counter balance to...whatever we are as an agglomeration of tribes... but as a real, emergent, threat to our survival as a species.
So WE-THEY may require revision.
WE, are all we have, and, if we are truly inclusive, WE are everyone, every entity, who walks, crawls, swims and flies on this planet.
WE are at a crossroads.
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@S.Einstein
Huh?
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Thanks to the ACLU for their work in restoring the rights of disenfranchised citizens of Florida.
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As a FL resident and American, I am appalled at the restoration of voting rights to convicted felons. These people made a conscious decision to commit a crime and do society or others harm. There punishment involved the loss of voting rights. To be clear, the law specific allows a racist who tries to kill black people to vote, a person who hates gays and beats them to within an inch of life now vote, a drug dealer who hooks hundreds or thousands of people to vote, a person who used a gun and beat an elderly woman into a vegetative state now votes, rapist who is pleaded down to a breaking and entering to vote, and a felon who scams thousands out of their life savings to now vote. It gives a voice to people who will compound their criminal actions by having their voice amplified through voting. Thank you ACLU and NYtimes editorial board.
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@Chris
If the courts believe the person who completed their sentence, probation, and has paid restitution is free, why would we deny them their right to vote? If the intent was to punish them for life, why didn't they receive a life sentence?
The law as it stood before Amendment 4 allowed the Governor and cabinet to decide who recieved restoration of rights, with the Governor having veto power over the decision. If our courts think the sentence reflects the punishment necessary for the crime, why continue to deny rights to someone who has paid it?
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@Chris
You want to deny those who committed certain crimes and served their sentences the most basic right of citizenship. But why stop there? Why not deny them the right to bear arms, the right to free speech, the right to assemble and petition the government, the right to a U.S. passport, the right to freedom from unreasonable searches. Come on, let's not go half way if we're going to deny evildoers basic rights for life
Now, if only FL would have modern voting machines with a paper ballot back-up.
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@Sheila Exactly how would you have "modern voting machines" (I assume electronic) and paper back-up? Who gets the back-up? The voter? The precinct? How would the back-up be used? Actually, you can have electronic or paper ballots but not both. Printing a record for the voter is nice but cannot really be used as a back-up.
Eventually, we will get electronic ballots, but it will take a while.
Sheila,
Election integrity expert Jonathan Simon explains that ballots give us a false assurance as they almost never see the light of day. They're off limits to the public, candidates, and election administrators. Our ballots, the memory cards, and source code are "corporate property."
Audits and recounts have been rigged, stopped, and made cost prohibitive to be candidates. Jill Stein requested recounts in three suspect swing states after the 2016 presidential election: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Lawyers for Trump and the Republican Secretaries of State went to court to shut them down. The judges were wrong (corrupt!) to stop them.
After the 2004 presidential race, a judge ordered the counties in Ohio to keep the ballots. Two thirds of the counties threw them away. After a Wisconsin Supreme Court race in 2012, the ballot bags came ripped open for that recount.
Jonathan Simon: Recounts Are Only as Good as They Are Allowed to Be https://tinyurl.com/ya56g5dg
Election Theft in the 21st Century with Jonathan Simon https://tinyurl.com/ydz3jcvj
Follow Simon’s interviews at http://codered2014.com/. Simon was a research survey analyst for a polling company early in his career so he understands how exit polls work. He is the author of "Code Red: Computerized Elections and the War on American Democracy” (2018 edition).
Other democracies count their ballots by hand at polling places with observers present. It’s the gold standard.
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@Sheila
It's a county by county decision. Sarasota county has had them since the 2000. Probably others, too.
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This was one of the under-appreciated events of the midterm election. It amounted to one of the largest expansions of Black suffrage in modern times. While the law restored voting rights to about 1.4 million ex-felons, Afro-American men comprised a disproportionate share of the class.
The newly enfranchised voters in Florida law will surpass the quasi-enfranchisement of the residents of Washington DC under the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution. No doubt the ramifications will be huge once people are registered. It could overturn two decades of right-wing voter suppression activities dating back to the Bush-Gore election.
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@roger Did you even read the article before writing "Afro-American men comprised a disproportionate share of the class"? The article notes that "... while one out of five black Floridians was kept from the polls by past convictions, nearly 70 percent of those convicted of felonies in the state are not African-American, according to activists.
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So they can now vote but will still be denied jobs as well as most housing. A win I guess...
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Maybe one out of five felonies ends up in a conviction. Include those who committed property crimes and it’s probably less.
Of the felons who have been released, a good number probably got away with multiple other offenses. So when you restore the vote to those who have served their time, you are likely rewarding plenty who evaded charges. That burglar probably got away with a bunch of other burglaries. So too for that child abuser, that hit and run driver, and that bank robber. So when we restore the vote to ex-felons who served time, we are likely rewarding countless serial criminals who have never paid their dues because they got away with a good number of other crimes.
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@michjas
And there are many who have committed felonies and gotten away with them, either through a decision that evidence to convict was not sufficient, or through no one catching them. How do you propose they be stopped from voting?
We used to embrace the idea that those who make mistakes, pay the price, and seek to turn their lives around deserve a second chance.
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People fought for the disenfranchised to have a vote. They should return the favor and exercise their right.
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Finally, one red State follows Norway’s example and enters the 20th century. Yes, the 20th.
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Apologies to all GOP patriots, but had studies shown 60% of felons will vote for Dems, the GOP would never have allowed this to occur.
The GOP is bankrupt of any morality, any allegiance to the constitution, and if the flag doesn't sell, they don't care. Reagan has turned over in his grave several dozen times in the last few years.
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@The 1% So does this say that the Democratic Party is comprised of criminals? Or does it indicate to those that may be thinking of criminal activity that they can find refuge in and protection from the Democratic Party? I’m a believer that those who do their time should be allowed to re-enter society, but only after thoughtful consideration as to whether it’s the right choice. Otherwise, as the saying goes, “the inmates will be running the asylum”.
@Matt Moltisanti
And exactly who should provide that "thoughtful consideration". A dishonest, partisan hack like our former governor, who made sure to slow walk all applications for restoration of voting rights so that few of those who applied would ever have their voting rights restored? If Scott and his cronies had behaved honestly and honorably when it came to restoring voting rights this amendment would never have gained traction.
Righting a wrong won't get them to the polls. Felons will have the lowest turnout numbers of any group. I recall all the same kind of arguments about disenfranchisement, fairness etc so 18 year olds could vote. They've been able to vote for decades now, but most of them don't even know where their polling station is.
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"And while one out of five black Floridians was kept from the polls by past convictions, nearly 70 percent of those convicted of felonies in the state are not African-American, according to activists."
Perhaps this is the main reason for success of this ballot measure in Florida. If Republicans assume a particular voting block (like African-Americans or Native Americans) vote mostly Democratic, they will fight with every dirty trick they have to ensure that those groups are disenfranchised - witness what happened in Georgia and North Dakota.
While this is an excellent outcome in Florida, don't expect this bright spot to shine on other parts of the nation if Republicans see righting such wrongs aren't to their political advantage.
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HORRIFICALLY It is NOT surprising that Florida has been illegally discriminating against convicted felons who have paid their debts to society. What is shocking, however, is the fact that the vicious ex-governor Rick Scott, did not obstruct the motion passed on the ballot referendum in 11/2018. He's the one who has forbidden State workers in FL from stating anything about global climate change in neighborhoods that are regularly flooded due to the rise of sea levels attributed to just that--global climate change.
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I'm very glad Florida did this.
The Republican lobbyist who favored this is correct.
There are many Republicans among those with felony convictions. While many of those are from groups with low voter turnout, the Republicans among them are from groups with higher turnout.
This is being welcomed as a boon to Democrats. It isn't necessarily so. There could be a big surprise in what this brings.
I am put in mind of a Republican Party lawsuit in one state, which won, and resulted in the Republican party being wiped out in a sweep as assumptions hit the wall of the facts.
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@Mark Thomason
Now if only the officials in Fla would count ALL the votes, we might have a fair and honest election.
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I would wait to see what the Florida legislature, backed by a newly Republican state supreme court, does to neuter the new state constitutional amendment granting the right to vote to former felons.
Florida's super-strict ID requirements may also limit new voters. Essentially, driver license (meets Real ID requirement to serve as air transport ID) or passport plus a credit card for signature.
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The governor wants the legislature to write implementing legislation, which as the Orlando Sentinel notes, is discouraging considering the legislature's meddling in constitutionally mandated marijuana legalization and land and water conservation. But the governor's appointee as secretary of state is encouraging county elections supervisors to go ahead and enroll ex-felons.
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@David Martin When we moved to Florida in 2015, my partner's hospital birth certificate from the early 40s in rural Wisconsin and her court documents from her name change were NOT accepted when she tried to register to vote. They did accept an expired passport which was gotten with the very same documents they refused.
Florida ex felons being given the right to vote and Florida's excellence at skirting the Constitution? Good luck with that!
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This is especially welcome given that Florida's previous system for re-enfranchising those with felony convictions left it up to a panel chaired by the governor. John Oliver had a great piece last year showing people pleading their case before (now) former Governor (and now Senator) Rick Scott, who in one case could offer no cogent rationale for declining an application, other than that he didn't seem to feel like it. Arbitrary and capricious.
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“Arbitrary and capricious” when mixed with toxic personal unaccountability, which is ever-present, infectious complacency, all around, and a bit of complicity-willful blindness, deafness and ignorance, can, and does, create a lethal outcome for generations both to living organisms and our range of environments
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And now those ex-cons can cast a ballot against Rick Scott in an election. Hallelujah.
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Thank goodness. Canada does not just allow felons in the community to vote. We allow prison inmates to vote, setting up polling stations inside prisons. There is no civilized alternative. If you want criminals to successfully integrate back into the community encourage them to learn about political issues and vote, which gives them a stake in society. This is criminology 101. Of course in the USA a high percentage of felons are people of color, a solid majority of whom are likely to vote for the Democrats, which explains why so many Republicans resist this kind of change.
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@Tom Barrett -- In the US, prison populations are counted for purposes of districting and proportions of representatives, but then they don't get to vote for the representatives assigned because of them. It is a distortion, in simple terms giving the guards the rights of the prisoners.
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Two states in US allow inmates to vote: Maine and Vermont. Maine’s motto “Dirigo”, I Direct, I Lead
Maine’s eight-year nightmare is over. With Governor Mills, we intend to restore decency and lead with fairness and compassion.
Welcome (back) to Maine!
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Majority of prisons in red states because they provide jobs for locals. If we let inmates vote, then they will probably increase democratic votes
A wonderful idea!
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I'm happy to see people who have served their sentences get their voting rights restored but I wonder what constitutes an "onerous ID law"? Is it so out of line to ask someone for the same ID they need to rent a movie or fill a prescription or get food stamps?
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@btb This has been debated in many other places, and need not be repeated here.
You might ask what problem is being addressed by requiring ID; there is NO problem of people showing up to polls posing as someone else, which is the only thing a voter ID requirement could combat.
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@btb I am sorry to differ with you. We can't people to vote. Never mind going around voting 2 or 3 times. I t is quite the opposite. Republicans are purging and gerrymandering to keep voters away because they are very afraid of loosing.
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@btb Renting a movie, filling a prescription or getting food stamps are not constitutionally guaranteed rights. To be fair, what constitutes an "onerous ID law" would be anything the gun lobby wouldn't allow. Lets start there.
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I’m with Vermont and Maine. There should be no voting restriction based on past convictions.
Republican Secretaries of State have been aggressive in recent years with “onerous [voter] ID laws and computerized gerrymandering.”
Exhibit A: Brian Kemp and the Georgia 2018 governor’s race.
Exhibit B: Chris Kobach and Crosscheck. Greg Palast's investigation has revealed that Republicans "purged 1.1 million Americans of color in GOP–controlled states" in 2016 alone.
Exhibit C: Republicans gerrymandered ruthlessly following the 2010 census. Although Democrats won the statewide vote share for 2012 House seats in Pennsylvania, Republicans "won" 13 of the 18 seats that year.
A 2015 study from Harvard and the University of Sydney ranked the U.S. “dead last” on our election system among established Western democracies. The U.S. is an outlier compared to other developed countries when it comes to counting votes (in secret with proprietary software).
#DemocracyDemandsTransparentVoteCounting
NYT Magazine Cover Story (Sept. 2018): The Crisis of Election Security https://tinyurl.com/yczwsupq
“The ballot box is the foundation of any democracy. It’s not too grand to say that if there’s a failure in the ballot box, then democracy fails. And in the United States, it’s safe to say, though few may utter it publicly, that the ballot box has failed many times and is poised to fail again.”
We must restore democracy to our election process!
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@RLS-Your points about GOP efforts corrupting elections not only covers Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Georgia but extends to Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Alabama, North Dakota, and Arizona. Republican efforts to suppress the vote has even been sanctioned by the conservative Supreme Court (see Ohio voter purging case settled in May). Democracy is in trouble.
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@RLS
Exhibit D: The electoral college.
Time for this archaic impediment to true democracy to be abolished,
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Thanks, Drew. Absolutely! The Electoral College is undemocratic. I forgot to mention the following in my original comment:
Exhibit E: Big money. No, Republican Supreme Court Judges, corporations are not people and money is not speech.
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The authors "it was heartening to see millions of people take to the polls, repudiate a law with racist roots ..." Yes. It was especially encouraging for us Floridians. There were other amendments that passed which indicate that Florida is moving to a progressive political side although it elected a Republican governor and senator. Here are some amendments that passed: Amendment 9 prohibits off-shore drilling, 12 extends ethic rules for public officials banning them to lobby during 6 years after leaving office, 13 forbids greyhound racing by 2020.
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@J. Parula -- "Florida is moving to a progressive political side although it elected a Republican governor and senator."
Progressive is not the same as Establishment Democrat. Ask the very powerful #4 guy in the Democratic Congressional leadership who was just primaried by AOC for being establishment Democrat.
While Republicans lately have faked being populist, as did Trump, they have in the past been progressive. Trump beat those other 16 guys on stage because they were all establishment hacks, and whatever weirdness was under his weird hair, it wasn't that.
The original Progressive was Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican President. That was a long time ago, but others in the Republican Party were then already the Big Business and Banking party. Eisenhower protected and cemented in place the New Deal and major reforms in Civil Rights.
If it is the way to power, Republicans could well do Progressive. Meanwhile, many in the Democratic leadership are very capable of NOT doing Progressive.
I do hope we finally see Progressive thinking back again. However, I am not at all confident it will have a "Democrat" label if it comes.
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@Mark Thomason I concur wholeheartedly. The current divide is less Dem vs. Rep and much more of a polarized left and right extreme. The center has been left unrepresented for fear of being shamed and damned by those who see no middle ground. Compromise has become an expletive.
My hope would be for a Split Ticket in 2020, with neither candidate being from the coasts.
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@Mark Thomason
I really don't care about the Democrat or Republican classification of stupid. Stupid is stupid. I think it's amazing that our political leaders are not the resource for correcting these issues; direct television marketing campaigns appear to be the answer.
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States are allowed to decide on voting rights, so as in many rights and benefits where one happens to reside is decisive---in general voting rights, criminal justice, health care, taxes, education, etc.
What has allowed this stain on US democracy is the lack of federal laws for consistency and equality needed by any modern democracy. The anti big federal govt credo blocks progress. This means that Equal Protection of the Laws is meaningless.
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Now if we could just get those, who were never denied this right, to exercise the franchise we might achieve something that looks like representative government. Right now we have more Democrats than Republicans registered to vote but Democrats seem to view midterm voting as appealing as a day on a chain gang.
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Unfortunately in America, barely half of the population votes.
We have seen that in countries where people have been oppressed, they vote in very high percentages as soon as they gain the right of self-determination through the ballot. Hopefully, these newly enfranchised voters will strongly take advantage of their new found liberty and vigorously exercise their right to vote. That would be a great lesson for the rest of us, especially those of us who don't bother to participate.
You know the old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. If there was some way to reach to these new voters and make sure that they have access to the truth as provided by legitimate journalism, the odds of them voting in their own interests will go way up. It would be great if the Democratic party could gift them a six month digital subscription to this or some other quality paper. As much money that is thrown out on negative campaign ads, this would be a way to open people's eyes to the truth. Then their votes will truly be their votes.
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@Bruce Rozenblit, the more appropriate saying is "You can lead a horse to water, but if you have to lead it to water in the first place, lead it to the glue factory, it's more useful there".
Legitimate journalism is dead. We're in an era of purely ratings based journalism. When the choices were limited, news papers were forced to report news in a means that would offend less people and therefore was more fact oriented with less opinion. As such, news papers were typically more non-biased. They didn't cater to audiences, they delivered news.
Now as a means of survival, news outlets are forced to attract customers. This article alone is one big advertisement to draw a specific type of reader... which contains intermittent facts. In multiple places it clearly attempts to sway or reinforce opinion.
I believe however the democrats could offer subscriptions to news papers which sell their perspective. I would suggest the money is better spent on assisting with jobs.
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@Bruce Rozenblit -- "Unfortunately in America, barely half of the population votes."
The half that does not vote is voting. Its vote is "None of the Above."
Proof is the way that exactly those voters do turn out on occasion, when they have someone unusual to vote for, as they did with Bernie and AOC.
You want them to vote? Win their votes. Don't assume they've got to vote for your candidate because the other guy is worse.
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Which facts are off? Do be specific, please.
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The proof will be in the actual Voting, and COUNTING. But yes, this is excellent progress. Finally.
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