According to the ACLU, about one million Floridians are barred from voting because of felony convictions. But Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi recently proposed to further restrict these citizens by requiring them to wait years after they finish their sentences before they are allowed to request that their voting rights be restored.
In response, the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., and the Sentencing Project sent a letter to the state Board of Executive Clemency, asking that the board not implement further restrictions on regaining voting rights.
According to a press release yesterday, the state’s new application procedures may be announced tomorrow, March 9. But, “despite the pending action, the board has yet to make the proposal available to the public.”
“It is well documented that Florida’s criminal disenfranchisement laws are a relic of a discriminatory past. The voting ban was an attempt to weaken political power of African Americans, and it continues to have its intended effect today.”
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