Friday, July 16, 2004
More on Florida
Florida faces another debacle in the upcoming presidential election on Nov. 2, with the possibility that thousands of people will be unjustly denied the right to vote, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights heard on Thursday.
In a hearing on the illegal disenfranchisement of alleged felons in Florida, commissioners accused state officials of "extraordinary negligence" in drawing up a list of 48,000 people to be purged from voter rolls, most of them because they may once have committed a crime.
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Last weekend, Gov. Bush said the state would drop the list after newspapers pointed out it included only 61 Hispanics. Hispanics in Florida have generally supported Republicans, while blacks, who made up a disproportionate number on the list, overwhelmingly support Democrats.
After the 2000 election, it emerged that thousands of people, mostly blacks, were improperly denied the right to vote because they mistakenly appeared on a list of ex-felons. Florida is one of seven states that denies former prisoners the right to vote for life unless a clemency commission restores their rights.
This year, the state produced a new list of 48,000 people to be purged from voter rolls. The state kept the list secret until news organizations sued and a judge ordered the state to make it public.
Here's the story. Unsurprisingly, the Republican's don't want to talk about it.
posted by chris at 1:47 PM
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