State: Purge felon voters on list (Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, May. 06, 2004

ELECTIONS


State: Purge felon voters on list

State officials order local elections supervisors to begin purging voter rolls of felons who don't have the right to vote. The measure may affect as many as 40,000 voters.

BY GARY FINEOUT
[e-mail]


TALLAHASSEE - Six months before a presidential election that is again expected to be decided by a narrow margin in Florida, state officials ordered local election supervisors Wednesday to begin purging voter rolls of felons -- a move that may take as many as 40,000 people off the rolls, many of them likely to be black Democrats.

The state Division of Elections is turning the list over to local election supervisors in all 67 counties, and has ordered them to make sure to remove any felons whose voting rights have not been restored. The state says a preliminary check shows as many as 40,000 former felons are still registered to vote.

''As part of our quality assurance testing, felon and clemency information was run against a copy of the current voter registration database and has identified over 40,000 potential felon matches statewide,'' wrote Ed Kast, director of the state Division of Elections, in a memo sent out to election supervisors on Wednesday.

The issue of felon voting became controversial after the contested 2000 presidential election, when critics said Florida used out-of-state lists to purge former felons, taking voting rights away from people who had committed crimes outside the state but had had their voting rights restored in those other states.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/8600742.htm
(Free registration may be required)

[lovedems]

1. Didn't they learn anything from 2000? Katherine Harris disenfranchised

many eligible voters.

I don't know why this shocks me but it does. Is this legal? Will there be outrage?

This totally bums me out and I don't even live in Florida.

[aquart]

6. Yes. They learned it worked.

Why would they abandon what works?

[lovedems]

10. I hope the voters have learned too. I hope there is outrage and I hope

people are actively making sure that if they are eligible to vote, they make sure that if they are scrubbed, they fight it. There is 6 months.

I hope this comes back to bite them in the ass, big time. I want to see outrage.

[depakid]

13. Agreed

Not only does it work, and not only won't ANYTHING happen for unlawful disenfranchisement, but the officals involved will probably be rewarded for it in both the public & private sectors....

Florida and other states and their respective county officials have not only proven with the 2000 purge but also with their responses to computerized voting (especialy in the last several years) that American's right to vote is illusory and need not be respected.

[Zhade]

2. 2000 Coup all over again.

Greg Palast has been warning people of this since 2000.

Where is the Congressional Black Caucus on this issue? For that matter, where is Kerry on the issue?

[AspenRose]

18. Paging Tavis Smiley....Paging Tavis Smiley....

It's (past) time to organize and start making some noise!

[zonmoy]

25. Only question being

is how are they going to rig the machines to foul up peoples votes.

[Raster]

3. why aren't the good folks in florida going balistic over this?????

what about the florida aclu? what about the naacp? the presidential election is 6 months away. jeberwocky knows that in a decent, fair, honest election his brother doesn't stand a chance. Come on florida, you've just been handed the vaseline, DON'T BEND OVER!

[Raster]

4. it galls me to no end... this gang of bastards is trying to pull...

...the same set of dirty tricks all over again. And why would they repeat something that was so blatantly illegal and unfair??? Hmmm??

BECAUSE NO ONE, NO ONE STOOD UP TO THESE BASTARDS! That means you and me. That means every person in this country that gives a damn about democracy. These bastards are so arrogant that they believe they can get away with this crap all over again!

[aquart]

7. Florida is not in play. Florida is a red state by criminal act.

Do not plan strategy around achieving Florida's votes.

When the people of Florida have had enough, they'll take care of it. Obviously, they haven't had enough.

[tkmorris]

14. Nonsense

Florida was as "in play" as it gets in 2000, what on earth makes you believe it is more Red today than it was then?

[w4rma]

34. Did you read the article at the top of this thread, tkmorris?

Compare with this one:
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=122&row=1

[pleiku52cab]

38. ya jus gotta live here

this shit ben goin' on fur years - but them ain't gonna hav to do too much dis time - dey already got dem robotomatic votin machines rigged an we dont get no paper recipee

[tandot]

5. there we go again.

I don't want to take convicted felons' side, but why are they not allowed to vote?

I don't quite get it. If they served their time and they want to vote, why not?

[JayS]

11. If I remember correctly, voting rights for felons varies by state. In...

...Texas, I think you can vote after you are off parole. You may or may not have to petition for that right though.

[DavidFL]

27. It's one of the last remaining vestiges of the Jim Crow South

And the crackers here wanna keep it that way because it helps keep the good ol' boy club in power. I think Jeb secretly gets his jollies from the petition process which requires those purged to appeal to him to get their voting rights restored, which can take up to 2 years. Besides that, there has been no impetus among the public or politicians to amend the constitution. It's a very frustrating sitution when no one seems to care about reforming the institutions of this State.

[bluedeminredstate]

8. Read carefully...

"''As part of our quality assurance testing, felon and clemency information was run against a copy of the current voter registration database and has identified over 40,000 potential felon matches statewide,'' wrote Ed Kast, director of the state Division of Elections, in a memo sent out to election supervisors on Wednesday."

They're admitting that the list isn't accurate. This is exactly what they did last time and they're not even trying to hide it. Unbelievable!!

[LiberalFighter]

20. What process are they using to id the felons with VR?

If they don't have SSN for both files it won't match up.
If they don't have drivers license for both files it won't match up.

They must have a unique id in both files to be 100% accurate.

If they were so concerned about felons voting then the correctional facility or court should had notified the election boards in the last known county of residence.

If someone can provide the process that they are using to identified voters to be purged please let me know. If the process is flawed I will know.

[w4rma]

33. In 2000 it was 57,700 voters, purged by name, gender, birthdate and race.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=122&row=1

[kimchi]

9. They haven't reinstated the thousands wrongly purged yet...

and they want to disenfranchise some more.

Farkin idiots. Have they NO shame?

[tlcandie]

39. Thank Kimchi for bringing this up .. they have YET to

FIX the last disenfranchisement! WHAT the bloody hell!!

[maddezmom]

12. guess Jeb's daughter won't be able to vote n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Can these people cast provisional ballots?

If they argue right up to election day that they are wrongly being listed as felons, can they cast a ballot for later qualification?
Seems to me they should.

[Misunderestimator]

16. OMG... Will they notify the 20 innocent John Smiths...

that have the same name as some felon in Montana that they have been removed BEFORE they show up to vote?

NO... OF COURSE NOT!!! JUST LIKE 2000... grrrrrrrrrr

[jdj]

26. yes, but only the WHITE innocent John Smiths n/t

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

28. They don't notify ANYBODY!

They just take your name off the list, and the first you learn of it is when you show up to vote. By then it's too late!

The big thing in 2000 was how many people were removed who had the legal right to vote, either because they had committed NO crime (but had a similar name), committed a felony in another state (Florida is supposed to purge only those committed of a felony in Florida), had their voting rights restored, or were convicted of a misdemeanor.

But it worked last time, and between this and all the other dirty tricks the Repugs play, they probably can knock out 50% of the black Dem vote.

[hughee99]

17. Disenfranchisement?

I don't know about that. Can you disenfranchise someone who isn't legally allowed to vote by purging a list? The issue here is that felons who have served their time are not allowed to vote in Florida. If you truly want honest elections, you should be demanding that Florida make their voter lists accurate, and that they let felons who have been released vote.

[Dogmudgeon]

19. 40,000 people? Recipe for trouble!

Step 1. Contact 40,000 lawyers.

Step 2. File civil rights actions against every Florida official culpable for this. Assuming 20 officials, that is 800,000 actions being filed in a short time.

Step 3. Invite the Press.

Heat in the glare of public opinion. Serves 125,000,000 (liberal portions) to 250,000,000 (conservative portions).

--bkl

[The Animator]

21. Disenfranchised Floridian

I will definitely be voting this year. Come hell or high water. I am not a convicted felon, but my name is Charles Fernandez. There has to be at least a million felons name in Florida and Texas with names like Carlos Fernandez.

So help me God if someone tries to stop me, I'll end up on the six o'clock news. I can see the blurb now.

"Tonight on Fox News, a hispanic man had the audacity to try voting in Florida today. If that weren't enough, he refused to leave his polling place until he was allowed to cast a ballot. The police were finally called, and they arrested him for attempting to vote while hispanic. Turns out, there a whole bunch of felons in Florida and Texas who's gotta name kinda like his.

Because were Fair and Balanced we tried to reach him for comment, but local authorities said he was sent to Guantamo or something."

[AspenRose]

22. Relax

They won't mess with you because if they go by name alone, they'll think you're Cuban and that if you're Cuban, the odds are you'll vote repug.

Thank God for people like CubanLiberal.

[eagler]

23. Voting is the one right that should never be taken away

under any circumstances.

[Gopens]

24. How can this still be going on?

Maybe my information is not altogether accurate, but I thought the state of Florida was ordered to reinstate the voting rights of those purged off the list in 200 but just didn't do it. Now the same thing is happening again?

I think I remember reading this in Palast's "Best Democracy," but didn't some court somewhere (maybe the state supreme court, maybe?) order Jeb and his cronies to reinstate those names?

[salin]

29. Was just wondering about the status of the Florida purges

a few weeks ago.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Kick!

[bvar22]

31. Lawsuits were filed:

"January 10, 2001
MIAMI --The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), along with The Advancement Project, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and People for the American Way Foundation filed an historic lawsuit in Florida to eliminate discriminatory and unequal voting policies and practices from Florida's electoral system."
http://www.aclufl.org/news_events/archive/2001/naacpvot...



"The NAACP has filed a class-action lawsuit naming as defendants various Florida officials, including the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris and DBT Online (now ChoicePoint), a company with close Republican Party ties that was hired by Harris to "scrub" felons from the voter rolls. The lawsuit claims that Florida officials violated the rights of black citizens by using an outdated punch-card voting system in precincts with high black populations, failing to correctly process voter-registration applications and purging eligible voters from voter rolls."

http://www.progressive.org/Media%20Project%202/mpbj1102...

<end>

IIRC, in a shameful display of money before principle, the NAACP settled out of court and received an amount of several hundred thousand dollars. According to the terms of the settlement, the defendants (KKKHArris et al) admitted no culpability, and paid the money to avoid publicity and a public trial. The defendants promised to do better next time. The NAACP gladly accepted the promise and the money, and faded quietly away.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.29A.fl.face.2K.htm
http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/florelecsettlement09...

I was (and am) outraged by this settlement. The NAACP and ACLU had the Florida criminals (the ones responsible for a stolen election) in a tight box....and let them go.

Hard to keep caring.

[wicket]

32. It's time to take to the streets

They can not get away with this again!!!!

[Zero Gravitas]

35. There ought to be a law against this

The law should say no purging in the 6 months before an election. Those purges should be notified and have an appeal process if they are purged incorrectly & that appeal should be resolved before the election is held.

Jeb, Harris and the other criminals deliberately misused the voter poll purge as part of their stealing the election. Anyone who truly believes in Democracy would support a law that protects the rights of voters against unjustified or "erroneous" removal from the voter rolls.

If something isn't done the Right will increasingly use this tactic to prevent democratic elections.

[w4rma]

36. It's unconstitutional. The NAACP settled a case on this in 2000. (nt)

[JoFerret]

37. Outrageous

.

[w4rma]

40. Where is the NAACP? Are they twiddling their thumbs?

They were the ones who made the choice to settle instead of forcing this bullcrap to stop.