Florida governor wins voting rights for ex-felons

[CatWoman]

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters)- Florida officials on Thursday voted to end the practice of stripping ex-criminal offenders of their civil rights, including the right to vote.

Florida is one of just three U.S. states, all in the Deep South, that have maintained long-standing constitutional barriers to restoring civil rights to those that have committed serious crimes, rights groups say.

Meeting in a special session, the Florida Clemency Board agreed by a 3-1 vote to allow some 950,000 ex-felons to automatically have their civil rights restored, removing a barrier that goes back 140 years.

The changed rules still require the state's most serious offenders -- murderers and sexual offenders -- to undergo a formal review by the four-member panel led by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.

"We must provide a system to allow these people to become productive members of society," said Crist, invoking Passover and the Easter holidays as a time of forgiveness.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070405/pl_nm/florida_politics_felons_dc

[jsamuel]

1. yay, no more "felons list" or at least a much smaller one

[blondeatlast]

2. Bookmarking this thread for the next time Florida is dissed in DU.

WTG. Florida!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. I'm a Buckeye...

So you know that I have at least two reasons to dislike Florida. But the UF Faculty Senate voted against an honorary degree for Jeb Bush (in your face!) and Joakim Noah is a known liberal Democrat -- Sports Illustrated reported this week that Noah has been arrested for protesting the Iraq War in front of the UN and is an Obama supporter.

So, Go Gaters. Sort of.

[Deep13]

3. Well, that's good news for the Bush family.

I don't suppose most of them live in FL anyway, though.

[Kber]

4. You wouldn't want Jeb or George to miss the opportunity to vote I guess.

[Cha]

6. This guy doesn't sound like

any republican gov I've ever heard about!

katherine harris purged voters in Florida, felon and otherwise to make sure Gore wouldn't win and he won anyway but, of course, all the criminals were in place to cover it up..including the cover up of the outcome by the nyt.

[spartan61]

7. I agree with you.

For a republic governor, he sure is doing some great things, including insisting on a paper trail for the 2008 election.

[Cha]

8. Shhh!

Is he our rino? :o