RESTORE VOTING RIGHTS

New State Restrictions on Ex-Convicts' Privileges Raise Troubling Questions

A rush job and a big step backwards for voting rights in Florida.

That's what came down last week when Gov. Rick Scott, Chief Financial
Officer Jeff Atwater, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and
Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed historic civil-rights restoration
reforms for nonviolent felons created under former Gov. Crist in 2007.

The all-GOP Cabinet's unanimous vote took place in a hastily called
emergency session with little notice and a scant 30 minutes of public
testimony allowed, including from NAACP officials who opposed the reversal.

Putnam raised concerns about not having enough time to study the rule
change but then voted with the majority, resurrecting barriers that
keep ex-convicts from fully integrating back into communities after
they've paid their dues to society.

As a result, Florida joins Kentucky, Iowa and Virginia as one of only
Four states that punitively impose lengthy waiting periods and
cumbersome hearings before nonviolent felons can have their rights restored.

Those include the right to vote, to serve on a jury, hold elected
office and apply for dozens of state occupational licenses.

Crist simplified the system for the lower-level offenders who had
served their time and paid restitution, expediting a process that
otherwise took years.

The streamlining allowed some 150,000 Florida residents to have their
rights restored since 2007.

A huge backlog of 100,000 still are waiting in the wings, however.

They now face a five-year wait before they can apply for a chance at
restoration, along with administrative hurdles that will cause many to give up.

Under Crist's reforms, violent criminals still were required to go
through clemency board reviews to have their rights restored. And
those guilty of the worst offenses -- murder and sex crimes -- had to
wait five years before requesting a hearing.

Tougher standards for more serious offenders are needed, and rightly
remain in place.

But the reinstated delays for nonviolent felons do nothing to help
them stay on the right side of the law or step up as responsible
members of society.