Felons' Initiative Probably on Hold in Florida...unless Floridians act now

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/28/State/Felons__initiative_pr.shtml

A measure to restore civil and voting rights upon completing sentences is unlikely for the November ballot.
By Associated Press
Published June 28, 2004

DAYTONA BEACH - A referendum to automatically restore felons' voter rights after they leave prison will likely fall short of the number of signatures needed to make the November ballot, a civil liberties group said.

If passed, the amendment would provide for automatic restoration of civil and voting rights for felons once they have completed serving their sentences. Florida is among a half dozen states nationally that do not automatically restore the voting rights of felons who have left prison.

The purge of some supposed felons from Florida voter rolls before the 2000 presidential election sparked a lawsuit filed by the NAACP, the ACLU and three other groups on behalf of black voters. The state settled that lawsuit in July and agreed to help restore voting rights to nearly 125,000 convicted felons who didn't get enough advice on how to regain their rights when they walked free.

Spalding spoke at a workshop Saturday on restoring rights to former felons. He said that most of those who began the process now would not be eligible to vote by November.

Link to ACLU website for Floridians to copy and sign petition:

http://www.aclufl.org/issues/voting_rights/florida_voting_ban.cfm#ballotInitiative

[slackmaster]

1. Can anyone provide a link to the actual text of the initiative?

The Florida ACLU link is giving a 500 error at the moment.

[flpoljunkie]

3. Try it again. Link seems to be working now.

It is an Adobe Acrobat document.

[slackmaster]

4. Thanks - The AP headline seems to be inaccurate

Looks like the initiative would restore just voting rights, not all civil rights, automatically.

Personally I favor restoration of all rights to all convicts who have completed their sentence.

[beyurslf]

2. It's a sad day when we have rehabiltated felons making their lives

better and wanting to participate in democracy and we won't let them.