U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa, St. Petersburg, FL), ACLU and NAACP officials today called for an end to an insidious and discriminatory Florida policy that has disenfranchised over 1.5 million Floridians, including 20 percent of the state's African-American population.

The officials urged change one month before Florida's Governor and Cabinet (sitting as the Clemency Board) will consider restoring the right to vote of nonviolent offenders who have paid fines and completed probation. While the overwhelming majority of states across America have reformed voting rights for nonviolent offenders, Florida still operates a post-Civil War era bar on voting.  

“Florida must correct this discriminatory policy.  It is unfair, unjust and an embarrassment to the State of Florida,” Rep. Castor said, standing in front of the Historic Central Avenue mural in downtown Tampa.

According to a 2011 Parole Commission study, restoration of civil rights helps individuals reintegrate into society and become productive rather than commit another crime. 

“We want to make our society safer, but we don’t do it by ostracizing people who have made mistakes and condemning them to live on the fringes of society,” said Michael Pheneger, president of the ACLU of Florida.

The Florida Clemency Board includes the Governor, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner and Chief Financial Officer. The Governor, with approval of the majority of the members of the Cabinet, may restore civil rights, as well as grant full or conditional pardons, commute punishment, and remit fines and forfeitures. 

In most states, civil rights are restored automatically once the debt to society has been repaid. In Florida, most non-violent offenders never regain their civil rights or voting rights due to the multi-year and bureaucratic requirements.

In 2007, the Florida Clemency Board under Gov. Charlie Crist voted to streamline the approval process for people with convictions for non-violent felony offenses. But in 2011, the Clemency Board under Gov. Rick Scott reversed the rights restoration rules and instituted highly restrictive policies. That year, the Clemency Board restored civil rights to only 78 people. It is estimated that by this year’s elections, as many as 600,000 people who otherwise would have voted could be absent from Florida's polls. Florida has the highest disenfranchisement numbers in America.

“The numbers tell the story of intolerance and inequality,” Rep. Castor said. 

“This is critical because we can help these individuals become overall productive citizens, individuals who can return to employment and take care of their families,” said Dr. Carolyn Collins, NAACP Hillsborough County Branch President. “This is an unnecessary struggle.”

Florida’s Clemency Board meeting March 19 also comes on the heels of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's speech last week at Georgetown University when he urged states to lift laws that suppress voting rights for ex-cons who have served their sentences, completed probation and paid all their fines. He described these types of prohibitions as a remnant of the racist policies of the South after the Civil War, when states used the criminal justice system to keep African-Americans from fully partaking in society. 

“Those swept up in this system too often had their rights rescinded, their dignity diminished, and the full measure of their citizenship revoked for the rest of their lives,” Attorney General Holder said during his speech.

Ten percent of Florida’s population is disenfranchised because of its current rules on civil rights restorations, according to Attorney General Holder. Florida is one of four states – the others are Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia — where felons are barred from the polls for life unless they receive clemency from the governor. 

“Nonviolent offenders who have completed their sentences and paid their debt to society should have full and equal access to exercise their voting rights. Now is the time to press Florida’s Clemency Board to reverse its restrictive policies and protect the rights of Florida voters,” Rep. Castor said.

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