July 21, 2004
Florida: Juan person, wan vote
So, it turns out the both the state and the private vendor who worked on the 2000 Florida voter disenfranchisement list were aware that using race as a factor in compiling the list would result in errors based on problems matching Hispanic names.
See, the state seems to have known exactly what it was doing when it compiled a $2 million list with almost no (traditionally Republican voting) Hispanics on it, but it turns out that this was just another one of those innocent mistakes, brought about by administrative incompetence, that coincidentally happened to favor the governor’s party. Really.
In May 2002, just days before the voter database was unveiled, Roberts ordered a rewrite of the matching procedures.He insisted that a registered voter's race match exactly with someone in the FDLE database. Because the FDLE classifies Hispanics as white, Roberts' decision meant voters who registered as Hispanics would be excluded from the felons list.
Roberts, who now works in the state attorney general's office, said Monday that he did not remember being at a meeting where the issue was addressed, but that he "vaguely" remembers there being some concerns about how race was kept in voter registration records.
Oh, well there you have it, then. This was all just a horrible mixup. Florida is dedicated to making sure that everyone who is eligible a registered Republican is allowed to vote.
Jeb! could put an end to this whole controversy with a stroke of his pen. He could do the right thing and join the 43 other states that restore voting rights to prisoners who paid their debts and are attempting to reintegrate themselves into our democratic society, but that would involve being fair minded and compassionate, traits that sound good in slogans, but which are rarely displayed in the actions of our governor.
''The governor could have an impact on this tomorrow, because he has the authority under the state Constitution to grant clemency in a much broader and quicker way than he has chosen to do so,'' Marshall said. ``He could restore their voting rights automatically with an executive order without requiring them to go through clemency.''
Jeb! could streamline the process. Easily and unilaterally. Right now there is a huge backlog of folks who have applied to have their rights restored, but the Republican controlled legislature refused to make money available this year for staff and other resources that could have cleared the jam and allowed thousands to register in time for the 2004 elections. And Jeb! is in no hurry to rectify this situation on his own.
There is also a backlog of thousands of ex-felons from other states who had their civil rights restored before moving to Florida. The state is not allowed to bar them from voting, but it has repeatedly ignored court orders and done exactly that, and it included these names in the 2000 version of the voter purge list.
The NAACP managed to get the state to agree to restore these folks’ voting rights, but the state is dragging its feet, and only about half of the people on this list have been returned to the rolls. But we should really cut Jeb! some slack here. He’s very busy. He’ll probably get around to this by, say, the middle of November or thereabouts.
Gee, it’s almost as if Jeb! and the Republican Party and the State of Florida are using a 140 year old racist law to ensure that in 2004 thousands of black people will once again be taught that their opinion means nothing in our democracy.
