FLORIDA GOVERNOR IS HOPING TO RESTORE FELON VOTING RIGHTS

MIAMI -- Hinting that a remarkable turnaround in state policy was
near, Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday that he hoped to persuade
members of the Florida cabinet this week to end the practice of
stripping convicted felons of their right to vote.

Florida is the most populous of three states whose constitutions
require withdrawal of voting rights from all convicted felons, and it
has the nation's largest number of disenfranchised former offenders.
The other two states are Kentucky and Virginia.

Felons in Florida who have served their prison and probation time can
apply to have their voting rights reinstated, but the process can be
time consuming and complex. Only a few hundred have their rights
restored each year in Florida, where the American Civil Liberties
Union says 950,000 remain disenfranchised.

Mr. Crist, a Republican, said that to win the support of some cabinet
members, he might require former felons to pay whatever restitution
they owe to victims before regaining their rights. Some civil rights
groups, including the A.C.L.U., oppose such a compromise, but Mr.
Crist said he had little choice.

"I want to do the doable," he told reporters in Tallahassee. "I'm
pushing as hard as I can to get as much as I can, but there's a point
beyond which I cannot go."

Only a constitutional amendment could formally end the ban, but under
state law, the governor and cabinet -- who also make up the state
clemency board -- could grant blanket clemency to everyone who
completes their sentence. Mr. Crist needs two of the three cabinet
members to sign off on the plan.

Alex Sink, a Democrat who is the state's chief financial officer, has
said she supported modifying the ban. But Charles Bronson, the
state's agriculture secretary, and William McCollum, its attorney
general, Republicans, have opposed it.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush was adamantly against ending the ban, even
though it contributed to problems in the 2000 presidential election.
An unknown number of legal voters were removed from the rolls leading
up to the election, after a company working for the state mistakenly
identified the voters as felons. At the same time, some counties
allowed felons to vote or turned away legitimate voters as suspected felons.

"I believe in my heart that everybody deserves a second chance," Mr.
Crist said. "And I'm hopeful that maybe later this week we'll have an
opportunity to restore civil rights for Floridians and give them that
right to vote."

Howard Simon, executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Florida, said he
thought Mr. Crist was focused on persuading Mr. Bronson to soften his
stance. He said Mr. Bronson wanted a list of exceptions, of violent
criminals who would not be eligible for voting rights. Mr. Crist said
he would not grant automatic restoration to murderers and sex criminals.

Terence McElroy, a spokesman for Mr. Bronson, said Monday:
"Commissioner Bronson continues to believe that people who commit
violent felonies ought to be treated differently than others who do not."

Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCollum, said he believed that
"violent habitual offenders should not receive automatic restoration."

Mr. Simon said it made no sense to require former offenders to pay
restitution to regain their civil rights.

"How can they be expected to pay it if the state keeps putting
barriers in the way of allowing them to be re-employed?" he said.
"You can put people on a payment plan, but get them back to work first."

Christine Jordan Sexton contributed reporting from Tallahassee, Fla.,
and Terry Aguayo from Miami.