No telling if voter rolls are ready for 2004
In 2000, some people were mistakenly labeled felons and denied voting rights. Despite three years of reform efforts, inconsistencies and obstacles remain.
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published December 21, 2003
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David Murry had regularly voted for 20 years, so the mechanic didn't think twice when he showed up at his Seminole precinct in November 2000 to vote for president.
But poll workers wouldn't let him cast a ballot.
Murry was a felon, they said, and they brushed aside his protests that their records were wrong. The apologetic letter he later received from the Pinellas County elections office acknowledging the mistake offered little solace.
"This was a presidential election. It was very important," Murry recalled last week. "I never did anything to deserve it, but they denied me my constitutional right to vote."
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The counties have been told to deal with inconsistencies in the list as best they can. Some are returning to the rolls any voters who the county can't prove are felons.
But others are making voters prove they aren't felons in order to vote next year.Despite a legal settlement to make it easier for felons to regain their voting rights, the backlog of former prisoners who have applied to restore their rights has grown to nearly 39,000. That's a six-fold increase since 2001, yet the state earlier this year cut the number of Parole Commission staffers who handle applications.
In 2004, could Florida voters again be wrongfully denied their voting rights?
more:
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/21/news_pf/State/No_telling_if_voter_r.shtml