Individuals with felonies deserve the right to vote in Florida
Further down the ballot, Floridians will find the “Voting Restoration Amendment” which, if passed, would grant most of the 1.7 million convicted individuals in Florida the right to vote. The restoration of voting rights is the right thing to do for our returning citizens and for public safety.
Florida is in the minority of states (along with Iowa and Kentucky) that disenfranchise for life those with felony convictions. No matter the nature of the felony committed or how much time has passed, returning citizens cannot vote for the policies that affect them on a daily basis. As John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” pointed out, this is the definition of taxation without representation: Returning citizens are still responsible for funding their government but have no say in how it runs.
If the Voting Restoration Amendment passes, voting rights would be restored to most returning citizens — with the exception of those convicted of murder or sex offenses. The current process, in contrast, provides returning citizens with little hope or relief. Gov. Rick Scott and the three-member cabinet can restore felon voting rights, but the process is slow, burdensome and arbitrary. With well over one million formerly convicted individuals in Florida and a cabinet that has generally only met four times a year, many of these individuals (specifically, the 23,000 applicants whose claims for clemency are pending) are forced to wait for relief. Most who apply for relief are denied. Gov. Scott has made it clear the process has “no standards” on which individuals can rely. Additionally, the clemency process is incredibly expensive — a cost borne by Florida’s taxpayers.
This is the opposite of the fairness, transparency and equity that we should demand from our government. Furthermore, it’s bad policy. When we keep our returning neighbors from voting, we send a message that they are lesser human beings and that, no matter how long has passed, they will never be welcomed back into the American family. We are an outlier in this way — no other first-world democracy disenfranchises people to a greater extent than we do in America. These are individuals who have paid their debt to society: They have served their sentences, worked hard on probation and parole, and are trying to reintegrate into our communities. Telling them that they cannot participate in democracy only serves to further segregate them from the rest of us.
Disenfranchisement of returning citizens also puts public safety at risk. Recent studies show that disenfranchisement is linked to increased rates of recidivism. It’s no wonder — if we send returning citizens the message, over and over again, that they are criminals, it is hard for them to be anything but.
In contrast, fewer individuals returning to prison means economic savings for all Floridians. According to an economic study by the Washington Economics Group on the proposed amendment, the resulting reduction in recidivism will have a positive $365 million economic impact on the state. This would come largely as a result of successfully reintegrating returning citizens into society: Lower recidivism rates mean fewer prisons and fewer prison staff, as well as increased job earnings and investments by returning citizens.
Along with the public safety and fiscal benefits, let us not forget there are real human beings affected by this unfair policy. Alan Rhyelle, a 72-year-old Sarasota County resident, is a Vietnam veteran who can’t votebecause of a decade-old charge of growing marijuana for his personal use. Rhyelle used the marijuana he grew to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder, which he suffers a result of his service to our country. Similarly Desmond Meade, also a veteran, spent time in prison for drug charges and a weapons-possession charge that was the result of a drug addiction in the early 2000s. He worked his way through community college and Florida International University law school, but because of his felony conviction, he cannot vote.
Thanks to the very policy this amendment seeks to rescind, individuals like Rhyelle and Meade who are most affected by this amendment will not be able to vote on it; they must count on the goodwill and good sense of their neighbors to rid them of this lifelong punishment. This November, Floridians have an opportunity to send the message to Rhyelle, Meade and others that they are indeed full members of the community to which they have returned.
Image credit: Alexandros Michailidis
