How Florida Republicans Keep Blacks From Voting
SANTA BARBARA — The worst-kept secret among Florida's Republican elites is their dread of the African American vote. It is not an unfounded fear. In 2000, blacks in this crucial swing state voted for Al Gore in unprecedented numbers, a whopping 92%. Current polls indicate they are even less enamored with George W. Bush this time around.
State Democrats are abuzz with suspicions about how Gov. Jeb Bush and his handpicked secretary of state, Glenda Hood, will limit the effect of black voters Nov. 2. Though the state has cultivated several voting techniques that favor Republicans -- an emphasis on military and absentee ballots is one -- no issue has been leveraged as successfully as its restrictive policy on ex-felons. One reason is that the Sunshine State holds the dubious honor of having one of the nation's largest felon populations, about 5% of its total.
Florida is one of seven states that imposes a lifetime ban on voting for ex-felons, barring an act of executive clemency. Currently, more than 600,000 ex-inmates, not including 82,000 in prison, are unable to vote in Florida. It is impossible to discuss this issue separate from race. In 2000, more than 58% of Florida's ex-felons were African Americans.
A task force set up by Gov. Bush to recommend changes after the vote-count fiasco of 2000 urged that the voting rights of prisoners be automatically restored once inmates completed their sentences. But the governor refused to review the issue. No matter whether one's crime was marijuana possession, check bouncing or drunk driving, a felon must negotiate a daunting obstacle course to win back the right to vote.
It is a policy that disproportionately affects African Americans in the state's prisons, the vast majority are serving time for drug offenses. Critics of the policy point out that had Gov. Bush's troubled daughter, Noelle, been prosecuted for having falsified drug prescriptions or possession of crack cocaine instead of being placed in treatment--she would probably be an ex-felon today and unable to vote.
How critical is the felon issue in Florida? Last year, more than 54,000 felons were released or completed their parole in the state. In 2001, the ACLU and the Florida Justice Institute sued the state for failing to comply with a state law mandating that felons be provided voting-rights assistance upon completion of their sentences. In response, the state admitted that between 1992 and 2001 it had not provided the required assistance forms to 125,000 ex-felons. When a Florida appellate court ordered Bush to provide the forms, he responded by abolishing them.
