Pat Dollard

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WJHG.com
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October 13, 2008

More than Thirty-thousand felons who haven’t had their civil rights restored are registered to vote in Florida. The state says it doesn’t have enough time or man power to investigate every case before Election Day. Several thousand ineligible voters will probably have their votes counted.

State law bans ex-felons from voting if they haven’t had their civil rights restored. But that hasn’t stopped more than 30,000 ineligible voters from registering. Some signed up because think they’re in the clear.

The confusion may have been the caused by a 2007 state cabinet decision to grant automatically civil rights restoration to some non-violent offenders.

Jennifer Davis of the Secretary of State’s Office hasn’t been able to do background checks on all the questionable voters and with time running out some will slip through the cracks.

“We want to air on the side of the voter. We want to make sure people who are eligible are protected and we’re going to examine those case files very thoroughly to make sure they’re felons before we advise a supervisor to remove them.”

Supervisors of Elections like Leon County’s Ion Sancho says if ineligible people vote the results could be challenged.

“It lays ground work for further legal challenges and that’s something none of us wants to see in the elections process.”

Human Rights activist Mark Schlakman says it’s time Florida stopped banning people from the polls.

“There are 1,000’s of ex felons who are conceiving residing in Florida who have completed their sentences and are barred from voting. That’s unconscionable.”

Everyone who registers to vote in Florida signs a statement swearing they are qualified to vote. People who lie on the form could be charged with a felony.

Of the thousands of ineligible voters on Florida’s voting rolls a newspaper report claims more than 5,000 are in prison. These are people who were convicted of felonies after they had registered to vote.

And another video