The Sunshine State?

July 10, 2004

It's amazing that almost four years after Florida essentially disenfranchised thousands of voters incorrectly, they seem to be on the path to do it again. In case you don't know, in 1999, Florida went about clearing the voter rolls of convicted felons, employing a method that was so unspecific that it ended up denying the vote to thousands of people incorrectly. And most of those denied were black voters, of which an overwhelming majority tend to vote Democratic in that state (or any state really), and 22,000 of which were actually registered Democrats.

Who ordered this purge and ok'ed the overly wide scope? Jeb Bush and the infamous Katherine Harris, who later was in charge of overseeing the recount while also serving as the head of the Bush/Cheney campaign in the state (for the full story, see Greg Palast's report in video or transcript.)

So, you'd think things would be better this time around, right? Nope. The NY Times reports on more shady practices with the Florida voter roll.

And let me say, why do felons who have left jail get knocked off the rolls anyway? I thought the point of prison was that you serve your time for your crime and get released with your debt to society filled? How does having gone to jail make you unworthy of voting?

UPDATE: You can check to see who's on the new list here.