Miami Herald: Almost a year after law changed, voter registration form still says felons can’t vote
Miami Herald: Almost a year after law changed, voter registration form still says felons can’t vote
TALLAHASSEE – Despite the passage of Amendment 4 last year, which was intended to make it easier for felons to regain their voting rights, Florida officials are using the same instructions on the voter registration form that the state used before the amendment — and instructing felons that they “cannot register until your right to vote is restored.”
That language is not true for many felons. Since 65 percent of voters approved Amendment 4, Florida law allows felons who have completed their sentences to have their rights restored automatically.
For four months, advocacy groups have attempted to get the Florida Department of State to change the instructions for the online and paper forms, warning that confusion could violate voters’ rights. But the agency continues to use the wording it used before the amendment was passed — in violation of the law, the groups say.
“If you have been convicted of a felony, or if a court has found you to be mentally incapacitated as to your right to vote, you cannot register until your right to vote is restored,’’ reads the online and print form used to register voters across the state.
Below that wording is new language, inserted by the Florida Legislature in its implementation of Amendment 4, that asks felons if their rights have been restored “pursuant to s. 4 , Art. VI of the State Constitution.”
“Nobody understands what that legal gobbledygook means,’’ said Liza McClenaghan, state chair of Common Cause Florida, one of several groups that have asked state officials to update their forms to reflect the changes to state law. “It is confusing.”
Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Latino Justice and others have urged the Florida Department of State to convene an emergency hearing to adopt a new voter registration form that follows the intent of the constitutional amendment and puts voters’ rights in plain language.
McClenaghan points to the language in the top left corner of the registration form, which spells out the conditions for voting and includes the same language about felons’ voting rights that the form included before the law change. Florida has an estimated 1.6 million potential voters declared ineligible because of past felonies — the most in the nation. …
“It’s like, hello?,’’ McClenaghan said. In their previous letters, the voting groups alerted the state to these discrepancies months ago, she said. “They still haven’t corrected it.”
McClenaghan said the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, the League of Women Voters and other activists are training attorneys and supporters how to do voter registration despite the confusing applications. But she is worried the delay will have an impact on suppressing registration.
“If they had had even an emergency hearing, they would have 90 days to go through the regulatory process and they could have gotten comments on how to make this understandable,’’ she said.