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Restoration Process Still Faulty

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2008

The Sept. 2 Tribune editorial, "If You Want To Vote, You Have To Register," asserts that ex-felons who have completed their sentences and want to vote must take the initiative to register and that government should make it easy to register, but it shouldn't have to lead people by the hand.

At first blush, these observations appear to be reasonable. A governor's spokesperson previously exclaimed that the state should not be blamed for ex-offenders' failure to exercise their civil rights. But the state failed to notify many because records were out of date.

Some said they should have attempted to register anyway, but in the past, the state failed to restore the rights of many eligible ex-offenders while issuing voter-registration cards to some in error. When authorities determined that the Clemency Board hadn't restored their civil rights, some were prosecuted for voter fraud.

Aside from a modest public outreach campaign funded by the 2007 Legislature, the state has done little to get the word out, and the still-broken restoration process. must be re-engineered.

MARK R. SCHLAKMAN

Tallahassee

The writer is senior program director, Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights.

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