In battleground Florida, tough stance on
felons may sap votes for Democrats
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[October 24, 2016]
By Letitia Stein
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Leonard
"Roscoe" Newton has been in and out of Florida's prisons since before he
could vote, starting with a youthful conviction for burglary.
He's been a free man for six years now with an important exception: he
still can't vote.
Newton, who is African American, is among nearly 1.5 million former
felons who have been stripped of their right to vote in a state with a
history of deciding U.S. presidential elections, sometimes by razor-thin
margins of just a few hundred votes.
Felons have been disenfranchised in Florida since 1868, although they
can seek clemency to restore their voting rights.
Since 2011, however, when Republican state leaders toughened the
restrictions on felon voting rights, just 2,339 ex-felons have had that
right restored, the lowest annual numbers in nearly two decades,
according to state data reviewed by Reuters.
That compares with more than 155,000 in the prior four years under
reforms introduced by Governor Rick Scott's predecessor, moderate
Republican governor Charlie Crist, the data shows. Crist, who was
governor from 2007 to 2011, made it much easier to restore ex-felons'
voting rights.
"When I tried to be an effective member of the community, I saw that I
was voiceless," said Newton, whose expectations of getting his rights
restored were dashed when the rules changed under a new administration.
"I'm 45, and I have never voted."
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The dramatic slowdown has stoked a racially charged debate over whether
political bias taints the process of restoring felon voting rights in
the largest battleground state in the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Florida's toughened ban means racial minorities are disproportionately
excluded from voting because of higher incarceration rates, data shows.
Black voters tend to favor Democrats.
"Republicans oppose the felon vote change because they are concerned
about the political implications," said Darryl Paulson, a conservative
Republican voting rights expert who sees wide restoration of voting
rights as "a huge political advantage for the Democratic Party." Paulson
says non-violent ex-felons should have the right to vote.
Almost all U.S. states deny incarcerated felons the right to vote but
many restore those rights after they have completed their sentences.
Over the last two decades, more than 20 states have taken action to help
people with criminal convictions regain their voting rights. Since July,
Virginia's governor has restored voting rights to 67,000 felons.
Florida is the largest of four remaining states that strip all former
felons of voting rights, accounting for nearly half of those barred from
voting nationally. Along with Virginia, the others are Kentucky and
Iowa.
TOUGH NEW MEASURES
In March 2011, two months after he became governor, Scott reversed
Crist's reforms, which had allowed many non-violent felons to
automatically get their voting rights reinstated after they had
completed their sentences. Crist had also simplified the process for
felons convicted of more serious crimes to regain their votes.
Scott, a millionaire former health care executive, put in place new
restrictions, requiring ex-felons to wait for five to seven years before
applying to regain the right to vote, serve on a jury or hold elected
office. He said the new rules ensured ex-felons had proven they were
unlikely to offend.
Florida has disenfranchised about one in five voting-age black voters,
according to research collected by the Sentencing Project, a
Washington-based advocacy group.
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That compares with about 8.6 percent of the state's non-black potential
voters. Data on the Hispanic voting-age population who can't vote
because of the law was unavailable, although Hispanics make up 12.5
percent of Florida’s inmates.
The rates reflect racial disparities in criminal convictions. Florida's
current prison population is nearly 48 percent black, more than any
other racial group, although blacks are only 17 percent of the state's
population.
Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections in Leon County, which includes the
capital city of Tallahassee, accused the Republican administration of
repealing the felon voting reforms "to reduce the number of African
Americans who had their rights restored because those voters were
perceived to be more Democratic voting and so therefore were targeted
for elimination."
Sancho is a former Democrat who is now unaffiliated with either party.
Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Republican officials who drove
the 2011 policy changes, did not agree to be interviewed by Reuters or
respond directly to questions on the accusations that the law is
intended to influence elections. But Bondi has previously denied the
policy amounts to racially motivated disenfranchisement.
"For those who may suggest that these rule changes have anything to do
with race, these assertions are completely unfounded. Justice has
nothing to do with race," Bondi wrote in a 2011 newspaper editorial.
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![](../images/102416pics/news_s35.jpg)
Leonard "Roscoe" Newton, 45, who lost his right to vote in Florida
before he was old enough to cast a ballot is pictured in
Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. on September 20, 2016. Picture taken on
September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Letitia Stein
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Scott's office, in a statement to Reuters, said former felons need
to "demonstrate that they can live a life free of crime, show a
willingness to request to have their rights restored and show
restitution to the victims of their crimes" in order to have their
voting rights restored.
"FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG"
Democrats have seized on the issue as a civil rights concern,
regardless of the political impact, said Nell Toensmann, who chairs
the Democratic Party of St. Johns County, a north Florida region of
about 225,000 people dominated by Republicans.
"Yes, it does disenfranchise a lot of African Americans, but it
disenfranchises a lot of white people who would be voting as
Republicans as well," she said.
The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation polling project shows a tight
race in Florida. It estimates that Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton has a 48 percent chance of winning the state,
compared to her Republican opponent Donald Trump's 42 percent.
Political scientists say the voting ban can sap votes from both
parties, but some research suggests that Democrats pay a steeper
price.
An analysis of voting patterns by race and economic status found
that if the ban had not existed during the 2000 presidential
election, Democrats would have had enough votes to overturn
Republican George W. Bush's 537-vote victory in Florida that won him
the White House.
"In very close elections won by Republican candidates, felon
disenfranchisement could be decisive," said Christopher Uggen, a
University of Minnesota professor who led the study.
"IF I DENY, IT’S OVER”
Applying for voting rights can be difficult. Ex-felons must submit
certified court documentation of each felony conviction — documents
that can be difficult to secure for those unable to spend time and
money tracking down records in courthouses.
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Cases involving serious crimes are heard in person by a clemency
board consisting of the governor and Florida's cabinet officers, in
quarterly meetings in Tallahassee.
During a Sept. 21 meeting in a windowless room in the Florida
Capitol building, 48 petitions to restore voting rights were on the
agenda presented to the governor and three state officers in an
all-day session punctuated by tears and emotional pleas. Some
petitioners were represented by attorneys, others showed up solo or
accompanied by a friend or relative.
"Clemency is an act of mercy. There is no right or guarantee," Scott
told them, urging applicants to accept culpability.
State rules give him the deciding vote.
"If I deny, it's over," he said.
Learlean Rahming approached the podium in a black and white flowered
dress, accompanied by her adult daughter. State records show dozens
of criminal charges over two decades that include larceny, drug
possession and shoplifting.
"I accept my responsibility for all of my stupid mistakes of the
past," said the 63-year-old woman, who had traveled from Miami,
adding that she has been out of prison for more than 20 years.
Officials were impressed by her turnaround story, until Bondi
noticed a discrepancy. Records showed Rahming had voted under a
married name after her release. "Just to see if I could vote," she
told the panel, explaining that for many years she had not realized
that her rights were taken away.
Scott moved to deny. Rahming left, wiping tears.
The board ultimately cleared 23 residents to get back their civil
rights.
More than 10,500 applications are still pending.
Crist, the former governor who championed leniency, switched to the
Democratic Party in 2012. In an interview, he questioned whether the
policy changes on felons voting cost him a 2014 bid to reclaim the
governor's mansion.
He lost by about 64,000 votes - in the ballpark of the number of
people in the state who complete felony sentences in a typical year,
Florida Department of Corrections data shows.
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"We will never know for sure," Crist said.
(Editing by Jason Szep and Ross Colvin)
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