Judge rules Florida’s voter-restoration process is unconstitutional

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A federal judge on Thursday said the system used by the state to vet which ex-felons get to have their voting rights restored is unconstitutional.

“Florida’s vote-restoration scheme is crushingly restrictive,” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in a 43-page ruling. “The scheme crumbles under strict scrutiny because it risks — if not covertly authorizes the practice of arbitrary and discriminatory vote-restoration.”

Walker said the process should change, but did not say how. And gave Gov. Rick Scott, who was the main defendant in the case brought forth by the voting-rights group Fair Elections Legal Work, until Feb. 12 to respond on the issue.

In a statement, Scott said he would continue to defend the clemency process in court. But Walker gave a brutal assessment of the process, saying the state requires ex-felons to conduct themselves to the “satisfaction of the board’s subjective — and frankly, mythical — standards.

“Courts view unfettered governmental discretion over protected constitutional rights with profound suspicion,” Walker wrote.

Florida is home to about 1.5 million citizens who have been stripped from their voting rights, and is one of a few states that disenfranchise convicted felons who have served their sentences.

Walker said the “burdensome” state system felons go through to regain their voting rights relied on a “panel of high-level government officials over which Florida’s governor has absolute veto authority.”

He added that “no standards guide the panel.”

The ruling comes a week after a grassroots initiative that would automatically restore the voting rights of ex-felons in the state qualified for the November ballot.

Desmond Meade, who led the two-year initiative effort, said the ruling “validates what the people of Florida think when they say the system is broken.”

“This is a righteous campaign that we are in,” Meade said, “it is about all human beings. I believe this is just another indication that we are heading in the right direction.”

During the Scott’s time in office, felons have to wait longer before they can apply to have their civil rights restores. It can take years to hear a case and the state has a backlog of about 10,000 cases, which may cost the taxpayers $500,000 to deal with.

“The governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities,” said John Tupps, Scott’s communications director.

But Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said Walker “declared what Floridians have known for many years — whether under a Democratic or Republican administration, the process for the restoration of civil rights, including the right to vote, is a system that is designed to fail.”

“There are almost 1.4 million Floridians who have completed the terms of their sentences and returned to our communities. Currently, with mandatory waiting periods before applying, a Board that meets only 4 times a year, and a backlog in the system, the average waiting time to get one’s case just on the agenda of the Board of Executive Clemency is 16 1/2 years.

“And even once someone gets heard, many applications are denied because the hearings themselves are arbitrary. The rights restoration system lacks standards, changes with each new governor and cabinet, and puts the power to decide who can vote in the hands of politicians.”

Ana Ceballos

Ana covers politics and policy Before joining the News Service of Florida she wrote for the Naples Daily News and was the legislative relief reporter for The Associated Press and covered policy issues impacting immigration, the environment, criminal justice and social welfare in Florida. She holds a B.A. in journalism from San Diego State University. After graduating in 2014, she worked as a criminal justice reporter for the Monterey Herald and the Monterey County Weekly. She has also freelanced for The Washington Post at the U.S.-Mexico border covering crime in the border city of Tijuana, where she grew up. Ana is fluent in Spanish and has intermediate proficiency in Portuguese.


5 comments

  • voncile

    February 1, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    People that break the laws should NOT have a say in who gets to MAKE the laws!

    • DWarren

      February 2, 2018 at 10:40 am

      The Obama appointed U.S. District Judge who made this stupid ruling is an alt-Left Democrat activist jurist who could not care less about the U.S. Constitution, the Florida Constitution, justice, the victims of crimes, or law abiding U.S. citizens in Florida or any other state. His only concern is inflating the voters rolls by hook or crook with a view to electing more alt-Left Democrats who hate the U.S. and who will take every opportunity to destroy the nation. He should be impeached and removed from office immediately.
      The best way to check the loony alt-Left Democrat obsession with representing the interests of criminals and criminal illegal aliens over the interests of U.S. citizens is to refuse to ever again vote for an alt-Left Democrat at the local, state, or national level.

    • David

      February 5, 2018 at 12:32 am

      That should start with the President of the United States!!

  • matt

    February 2, 2018 at 7:58 am

    Seems ironic that Rick Scott, a guy who defrauded our government out of hundreds of millions of dollars back when he ran his Hospital Company sits on a board deciding what rights other criminals get.

  • Dan

    February 2, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    I’m right of Attila but I believe a U.S. Citizen remains a U.S. Citizen and upon repayment (Prison, probation and restitution) for their crimes, ALL Rights should be restored. However, some crimes deserve death, life time imprisonment and/or life time probation.

Comments are closed.


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