Florida Voting Rights Report - Results

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Written by Muslima Lewis, ACLU Florida

RESULTS:

A. County Elections Employees are Uncertain about Disfranchising Offenses and Eligibility Requirements for Restoration of Civil Rights

Elections officials were generally confused about how a felony conviction affects voter registration.

Felonies/Misdemeanors

When asked if a person with a felony conviction could vote, most officials knew that a felony conviction leads to disfranchisement. However, many officials were not suffi ciently knowledgeable about the rights restoration process to inform the caller that a person who loses his or her right to vote due to a past felony conviction regains that right after his or her civil rights have been restored. Failure to provide crucial information about the ability to restore one's civil rights has the potential to disfranchise people who will never know that they may apply to have their civil rights restored.

Alarmingly, employees in six elections offices incorrectly stated that individuals with misdemeanor convictions are ineligible to vote, and employees in four additional elections offices did not know whether a misdemeanor conviction results in loss of the right to vote.

Probation/Parole

More than half of the elections offi cials surveyed did not know that individuals on parole or probation 7 for a felony conviction can not vote in Florida. Those who responded incorrectly stated either that the ability to vote while on probation or parole depends on the nature of the crime or that a person on parole or probation can vote as long as his or her rights have been restored. These responses show a fundamental misunderstanding of the most basic eligibility requirements in Florida for civil rights restoration. Worse, if individuals who are on supervision rely on this misinformation from elections employees, they may register to vote when they are ineligible, which is a separate felony offense.

Out-of-State Convictions

In Florida, a person whose voting rights have been restored in another state may register to vote in Florida. Further, if a person has a felony conviction in another state, but his or her rights have not been restored, he or she can apply for civil rights restoration in Florida.

Fewer than half of the surveyed elections employees knew that a Floridian with a past felony conviction from another state can register to vote in Florida if his/her voting rights were restored in the other state. Almost one-third answered that they did not know if a person could register to vote in Florida notwithstanding a felony conviction in another state, or deferred to the Office of Executive Clemency. Not a single elections offi cial stated that persons with out-of-state convictions could apply for civil rights restoration in Florida if their rights were not restored in another state.

Voting in Pre-trial Detention

Although nearly all of the elections officials knew that pretrial detainees may register to vote, some actually discouraged voting by people awaiting trial. In one instance, the election official said he recommends that someone should not register to vote while awaiting trial; another election official said that a pretrial detainee can not register "because their rights are going to be taken away anyway". Elections officials are charged with encouraging and facilitating voting by eligible citizens; these responses show that these elections employees are inclined to do just the opposite.

B. Elections Employees Are Imposing Unnecessary Documentation Requirements for Voter Registration

When an individual's civil rights are restored in Florida, he or she is issued a Certificate of Civil Rights Restoration signed by the Governor. It is not necessary to present this certifi cate upon registering to vote. In order to register, an individual need only check the appropriate box on the voter registration application indicating that he or she has a felony conviction but his or her civil rights have been restored.

Over 40% of elections offi cials erroneously stated that an individual must present documentary evidence of civil rights restoration in order to register to vote.

C. County Elections Employees Are Unclear about the Civil Rights Restoration Process

Although most county elections employees did not provide incorrect information about the process for restoring civil rights, they clearly were not sufficiently knowledgeable about the civil rights restoration process to give any meaningful guidance to the caller.

More than half of the elections officials questioned were familiar with some aspects of the civil rights restoration process. Those familiar with the process correctly stated that the person seeking to have his or her rights restored must file an application with the Board of Executive Clemency. However, nearly one-third answered that they did not know the rights restoration process and that the question should be posed to the Office of Executive Clemency.

Waiting Period

Under Florida's clemency rules, a person is eligible for consideration for civil rights restoration if he or she has completed his or her sentence and supervision and does not owe court-ordered restitution and if there are no pending charges or detainers against the individual. The rules do not impose a waiting period after completion of sentence and supervision. Only one-third of the elections employees knew that there is no waiting period; over half of election officials questioned could not correctly respond to this question about whether there is a waiting period.

Restitution Pre-condition

As noted above, an individual is ineligible for civil rights restoration if he or she owes court-ordered victim restitution. Half of the election officials did not know this, and many deferred to another agency.

D. Voter Purging

No single event in history brought more attention to the issue of felony disfranchisement than Florida's flawed attempt to purge people with felony convictions from the voter rolls before the 2000 Presidential election. The election was decided by a mere 537-vote margin in Florida. During the aftermath of the election, it was revealed that Florida's aggressive use of a flawed felon purge list resulted in hundreds and perhaps thousands of eligible citizens being stricken from the voting rolls for that election. The State's plans to use another flawed purge list in 2004 were thwarted after litigation forced the State to release the list, which was then revealed to over-include Black voters, and under-include voters with Hispanic surnames.

Despite this abysmal history, this survey shows that county elections employees still are not fully aware of the process for removing voters with felony convictions from the voting rolls.

In 2005, a procedure was enacted that prohibits the use of purge lists, and establishes steps that must be taken at the state and county levels before removing an individual with a felony conviction from the voting rolls.^[14] The process is still prone to error, since a person can be removed from the statewide voter registration database if he or she does not receive the statutorily prescribed notice of potential ineligibility to vote.

Half of the election officials surveyed knew that there is a statewide system in place that notifies county supervisors of elections that someone on the statewide voter registration database may be ineligible to vote due to a felony conviction. However, nearly half of the elections officials were unaware that the Department of State provides a file on each person who may be ineligible to vote containing information gathered from several sources and that the county supervisor of elections must follow up to ensure that individuals are not erroneously removed from the rolls. Alarmingly, they were unaware that the ultimate responsibility for removing someone's name from the voter rolls rests with the county supervisors of elections.

One-third of county elections employees surveyed were unaware of the process that the supervisor of elections must follow after receiving the file from the Secretary of State and before removing a person from the voting roll. The most common incorrect response from the county elections offi cials was that a person is automatically removed from the voter registration rolls if his or her name is on a list received by the supervisor of elections office. This response suggests that many elections employees believe that a felon purge list is still used in Florida. They had no knowledge of the notice requirements elections officials must follow or of the procedures that individuals can follow to contest removal. In one instance, an election employee stated that if the person is known to be a felon, he or she will be taken off the voter rolls "automatically".

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