Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote?

Governor Crist thinks so. He said yesterday that he is hoping to restore felon voting rights by acting through the Florida Clemency Board to do so. “I believe in my heart that everybody deserves a second chance,” the Governor was quoted as saying. “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.”

The Florida constitution bars voting for all convicted felons. Florida has the nation’s largest number of disenfranchised former offenders.

Florida felons who have served their time and are no longer on probation can apply to have their voting rights restored, but the route to do so is time consuming and complex. Only a few hundred succeed each year. The ACLU says there are 950,000 felons in Florida who are disenfranchised.