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If You Want To Vote, You Have To Register

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist made national news last year by convincing the Clemency Board to automatically restore voting rights for most freed felons.

More than a year later, however, only a small number of released prisoners have registered to vote, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

And some are blaming the state for failing to do more.

Poppycock. People who want to vote must take the initiative to register. Government should make it easy to register, but it shouldn't have to lead people by the hand.

Republicans were concerned that automatic restoration of rights would create a wave of felons registering as Democrats. However, the Sentinel found that only 9,000 of 112,000 eligible felons had registered by the end of July.

The newspaper also found that:

•Florida's parole system lost track of thousands of former felons, and that letters notifying them of their right to vote were sent to wrong addresses.

•Crist's office didn't include a voter-registration form with the notification letters and didn't launch a public-awareness campaign to let ex-felons know their rights.

•County elections supervisors say it's been difficult to access the clemency data to know who is eligible.

The other day Crist ordered his Office of Executive Clemency to close some of the gaps. From now on, a voter-registration application will be included when rights-restoration certificates are mailed out. Even still, the American Civil Liberties Union calls the governor's actions too little, too late.

Perhaps the state could have done a better job of spreading the word, but the fact that 96,000 eligible felons have failed to register says as much about their indifference as the state's.

Registering to vote has never been easier. Eligible citizens can sign up when they renew their driver's licenses, at many libraries, and at voter-registration events. Or they can call the local supervisor of elections office and have a form mailed to them.

The state should not have to chase down ex-offenders to get them to register. When thousand of letters are returned to sender, the recipients likely did not live in one place long enough to establish permanent residence or were too irresponsible to complete a form at the post office to have their mail forwarded.

Then again, when only 10 percent of registered votes turn out for an election, as was the case last Tuesday in Hillsborough County, voter apathy is not limited to former felons.

Gov. Crist deserves credit for the rights-restoration project he initiated.

But freedom comes with responsibility. Those who wish to have their voting rights restored have to show they really want them.

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