Pubdate: Sun, 21 Jan 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693
Fax: (305) 376-8950
Website: http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Brad Bennett

BILLS AIM TO EASE RESTORING VOTES OF EX-FELONS

Spurred on by irregularities in the presidential election, two Broward
lawmakers are pushing bills that would allow released felons to vote in
elections without going through a lengthy process of getting their rights
restored.

State Sen. Mandy Dawson and Rep. Chris Smith, both Fort Lauderdale
Democrats, believe Florida puts too many roadblocks in the way of felons who
seek to restore their civil rights after gaining release from prison.

Their bills would automatically restore those rights.

``In our society, we tell people, you do your time, you come out, you should
become a productive member of society,'' Smith said. ``But it's hard for a
person to become a productive member of society if they're not allowed to
participate in society.''

Many felons aren't aware that they cannot vote, the sponsors say. As a
result, many do so anyway, and the state has not found an effective way of
weeding them out.

Last week, a Herald investigation found that, in Broward alone, at least 452
felons cast ballots illegally in November's election.

Florida is one of 14 states that bars felons from voting. Felons can restore
their civil rights only by navigating a bureaucratic obstacle course.

They must apply to the state Office of Executive Clemency in Tallahassee, a
process that can take eight months to a year, Smith said. And to qualify for
restoration, they must have no more than two felony convictions, no pending
criminal charges and no outstanding penalties in excess of $1,000.

A disproportionate number of those barred from the political process are
African Americans, Smith and Dawson said.

``Being in prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation,'' Dawson said,
adding that there is no lesson for ex-convicts to glean from not being able
to vote. ``When you serve your time, you have completed the stipulations of
the court.''

The state's voting ban on felons is a part of the South's racial history.

After the Civil War, white Florida lawmakers sought to offset blacks' newly
earned voting rights by designating new classes of crimes as felonies,
according to a federal class action lawsuit filed by civil rights centers on
behalf of about 500,000 people in the state with felony records.

The result, according to a 1998 report by Human Rights Watch and The
Sentencing Project, was that 130 years later, Florida led the nation in
disenfranchised adults.

Dawson, who has proposed similar legislation before in vain, said the
problems with last year's election underscore the case for passing her bill.

However, state House Speaker Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, said through a
spokeswoman that there are problems with Dawson's and Smith's proposed
legislation.

``The speaker feels very strongly that everyone should have the ability to
get their voting rights restored,'' said Feeney's spokeswoman, Kim Stone.
``However, he does not believe in automatic restoration. He feels that there
should be a particular process that convicted felons or anyone who has lost
their voting rights should go through to establish them. Automatic
restoration is not something that would be utmost on our agenda.''

Feeney's party controls both the Senate and the House.

Restoring automatic voting rights is a priority for black lawmakers, said
state Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who chairs the Florida Conference of
Black State Legislators.

``Hopefully, this year, because of what happened at the polls relating to
the disenfranchisement of African-American voters, this will raise awareness
that Florida is one of the states that does not automatically grant that
right,'' Wilson said.

Frankie Lane hopes that is the case.

After his home was robbed in the mid-1980s, Lane said he took a replacement
TV set from the appliance store where he worked without his boss'
permission, which landed him in prison on a grand theft conviction.

Lane also snorted cocaine in the mid-1990s and pleaded guilty to cocaine
trafficking. The convictions stripped him of his voting rights.

But after serving jail time, entering a drug rehabilitation program, joining
a local church, and marrying an attorney, Lane, 46, of Fort Lauderdale, said
he now wants his full civil rights restored.

``I have been a model citizen since my last conviction, and I feel like I
have earned the right to have my rights restored,'' Lane wrote in his
application for voting-rights restoration. ``I want to vote and do all the
other things that law-abiding citizens do.''
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