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Voter registration for felons |
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Sunday, 21 September 2008 |
Following initiatives taken by Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature to change state laws to enable the state’s felon to have their voting rights restored, two civic rights organizations are ensuring that felons are registered by October 6, in order to vote on November 4.
According to reports, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida have launched a voter registration campaign on Monday to get the majority of the state’s estimated 112,000 convicted felons, whose rights have been restored, to be registered to vote.
The registration attempts by the groups include the launching of an advertising campaign, with the message, “Our nation’s future is at stake. Your voice should not be silenced by your past." The ads are to be displayed in minority communities and public buses in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and elsewhere across the state. The ads are in English and Spanish.
The reports state that Howard Simon, head of the Florida branch of the ACLU, said that the registration drive is extremely important as there are thousands of felons throughout the state who are not aware that their rights have been restored. Indicative of the fact that convicted felons are not aware of the restoration of their right, many have been telling people conducting voter registration drives across the state that they cannot vote.
Although Crist recently issued an order for voter registration applications to be issued with notices of civil rights restoration to felons, some believe that these notices went out too late, and thus the concerted registration drive by the FRRC and the ACLU is very important. The ACLU estimates that to date only 9,000 of the state’s felons rights have been restored. |
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