14-7E Scott & Voter Disfranchisement

8/21/2019 14-7E Scott & Voter Disfranchisement

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Florida: State Of

Shameby Debra Kanter

Cant Vote Floridians whohave served time in prison, havecompleted their sentences, havepaid their dues to society, and whowould like to return to beproductive citizens in Florida, are

being prohibited from voting byGovernor Scott.

Rampant Prohibition Dis-franchisement of former felons isrampant in the state of Florida!This is not hyperbole, its factuallyaccurate.

Shame Florida must bearthe shame of having the worstrecord in the United States forwithholding voting rights frompeople who have served their timeand have already been releasedfrom jail or prison. This is nosmall demographic!

Lets Go Scott Free in 2014

Scott & Voter Disfranchisement:Undermining Democracy: Why 1 In 10 Floridians Of Voting Age Is Not Allowed To Vote

June 1, 2014 SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH EVERYONE

No. 14-7E

Senator McConnellWhere Are The Jobs?

Speaker BoehnerWhere Are The Jobs?

[Continued on page 2, Shame]

Loss of Dignity These Florid-ians are stripped of the personaldignity at the loss of their civilrights and the subsequent lack ofjob opportunities.

Of the 5.8 million felons in theUnited States, Scotts adminis-tration shockingly disfranchis-es 25% (1.3 million).

900,000 of these 1.3 millionFloridians have completedtheir terms of imprisonment orsupervision.

Even Texas has disfranchisedonly one third the number ofFloridians who have had theircivil rights withheld.

People of color have beendisproportionately imprisonedfor the same crimes committedby others.

19% of African Americans ofvoting age in Florida cannotvote.

10% of Floridians of voting age

cannot vote.

5 TALKING POINTSReasons to Fire Rick Scott:

Voter Disfranchisement

1. Rick Scott has given Floridathe worst record of all 50 statesfor withholding voting rightsfrom its citizens. Even otherSouthern States have moved inthe direction of restoring theserights.

2. Since minorities have beenconvicted in much greaternumbers than others who havecommitted the same crimes, itis clear that these individualssuffer discrimination bothin convictions, as well as thedisfranchisement of their civilrights in an unjust process andunequal numbers.

3. Rick Scotts infamous purgelists disenfranchised more than180,000 Floridians before afederal appeals court ruled thepurge illegal.

4. Rick Scotts ExecutiveClemency Board makes sure thatmost of our 1.3 million formerfelons who have completed theirsentences will rarely, if ever,have their civil rights restored.

5. Rick Scotts policies thatlimit the restoration of civilwrights ensure that hundreds ofthousands of former felons whotrend Democratic, cannot vote.

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[Shame, continued from page 1]

[Continued on page 3, Current Policies]

Half of Floridas convicted felons are serving sen-tences for non-violent felonies. Some of these in-clude counterfeiting of a state lottery ticket, mo-lesting a stone crab trap, trespassing on postedcommercial horticultural property, and posses-sion of hydrocodone.

Constitutional MischiefUnequal Justice The Florida Constitutionhas codified the unequal justice inherent in oursystem of imprisonment. It has also codified ourdisfranchisement of those who have completedtheir sentences.

Article VI, Section 4 and Article IV, Section 8A,when taken together, specify

No person convicted of a felonyshall bequalified to voteuntil restoration of civilrights and the governor maywith theapproval of two members of the cabinetrestore civil rights

These powerful officials decide who may havetheir rights restored. The Scott administration hasdecidednot many!

Jim Crow Laws Since 1868, these Constitu-tional Articles have served to extend the spirit, ifnot the letter, of Jim Crow laws (see box on page

4)designed to drastically limit the rights of for-mer slaves in Southern States, including Florida.

Florida Board of Clemency & Rights Resto-ration The Florida Board of Executive Clem-ency is composed of the governor and three mem-bers of his cabinet. These cabinet members includethe attorney general, chief financial officer, andagriculture commissioner. These are very power-ful people who control the system to restore civilrights. The magnitude of the number of felons in

Florida, who are disqualified from voting, is a ma-jor and significant factor in any statewide election.As national data would suggest they trend Demo-cratic when they vote. Scotts Board uses this togreat electoral advantage.

No Oversight The Florida Board of ExecutiveClemency operates with absolutely no oversight bylegislative personnel or scrutiny by judicial review.

The rules for granting clemency and subsequentrestoration of rights reside solely in the hands ofa three member majority of this board; thereforeGovernor Scott and his administration canestablish any rules politically beneficial to them.

Previous Policy Under Charlie Crist In2008, prior to Rick Scotts term of office, Governor

Charlie Crist had restored rights automatically fornon-violent former felons upon application to theClemency Board.

Scotts Policy Within weeks of Scottsinauguration, the Florida Board of ExecutiveClemency metand subsequently changed itspolicy to restrict restored civil rights drastically byrestoring the five-year wait period for non-violenfelons and by denying most of their applications.

Number Plummeted Since then, the numberof Floridians whose rights had been restoredplummeted, from an average of 38,837 for eachof the previous four years to 329 per year between2011 and 2013.

The Scott Administration Policies Presently there is a five-year waiting period

(for non-violent crimes) and seven-yearwaiting period (for violent crimes) beforethose released from prison are even allowed

to apply for the restoration of their rightsFormer felons cannot vote for many years oncethey have served their sentences.

Restitution must be made to the victim beforeapplication is made. As jobs are very difficultto secure after a felony conviction, it is almostimpossible for former felons to fulfill thisrequirement.

An application to restore a felons rightsrequires three certified documents for eachfelony conviction: Charging DocumentJudgment, and Sentence Order. These can beexpensive to obtain.

For violent felonies, a hearing by the Boardof Executive Clemency is required, and anExecutive Order Certificate must be signed bytwo board members and the governor.

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[Current Policies, continued from page 2]

[Continued on page 4, Travesty]

The certificate is sent to the last known addressof the former felon. Because felons tend tomove frequently, these notifications often donot reach them.

In 2011, only 78 people, under Governor RickScotts leadership, had their rights restoredby the Board of Clemency. It is obvious thatthe years following incarceration can and dostretch to lifetimes of withheld civil rights formany hundreds of thousands of Floridians. Inother words, close to 1.3 million people havetheir voting rights withheld for their entirelifetimes.

Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Scotts Justification Scott and his cabinet (the

Executive Clemency Board) justify their version ofimplementation of the Florida Constitution by

claiming 1) the need for public safety as well as 2) the

need for former felons to prove their rehabilitation.

Scotts Rationalization Floridas governor

and his cabinet further rationalize their policyconsistent with the conservative think tank, TheHeritage Foundation:

[Disfranchisement] gives felons theopportunityand an incentivetoprove they are deserving of exercisingtheir right to vote Such an incentive canonly encourage their rehabilitationit should not be a freebie, restoredautomatically as though it has no value

at all.This is a cruel, self-serving, and misguidedopinion, not based on fact.

Undemocratic Values Scott and his cabinetsundemocratic values stand firmly opposed toequal opportunity and equal justice. However,politicians of many stripes, including Rand Paul,

understand that voting is a fundamental right.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, borrowing from aCalifornia court decision, wrote that

[Because the right to voteis of the essence of a democraticsociety, and any restrictions onthat right...strike at the heart ofrepresentative government

voting is a fundamental right.No Basis Recently, U.S Attorney General EricHolder further stated that Permanent exclusionfrom the civic community does not advance anyobjective of our criminal justice system. It hasnever been shown to prevent new crimes or deterfuture misconduct.

Scott uses a 50% recidivism rate for adult male exfelons to justify waiting periods and other delayingtactics.

Recidivism Statistics But the rate ofre-offending and returning to jail or prison(recidivism) actually decreases when a formerfelon is able to vote.

The general recidivism rate is 33%, but amongformer felons whose civil rights have beenrestored, the rate decreased dramatically to only11% (Florida Parole Commission). [Althoughrecidivism decreases when restoration of civi

rights is increased, one does not necessarily causethe other.]

38 Years Restoration is part of a pattern oflaw-abiding behavior. This makes it repugnantthat the Clemency Board now routinely deniesapplications for rights restoration and has sodelayed the process that some petitioners willhave to wait as long as 38 yearsto be heard.

Debt Paid Once ex-felons have served theirsentences, they have already paid their debt tosociety. They should have their rights restoredIn Florida at present, Scott and Attorney GeneraBondis requirement that former felons must waifive years (non-violent felonies) or seven years(violent felonies) before they even are allowed toapply for the restoration of their civil rights is a

travesty!

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[Travesty, continued from page 3]

Most states grant restoration of rights either

automatically upon release from prison or

completion of parole or probation (for example,

Illinois and New York respectively). Two states

do not even restrict prisoners rights during

incarceration (Maine and Vermont).

Florida Must Strike Back

Floridas shame is overwhelming, but still notcomplete.

Our Priorities Are Upside Down We spend$18,000 per prisoner per year, but Florida onlyspends $7,000 on K-12 education per pupil peryear.

80% of the American people support voting rights

for people with past felony convictions.

Since Governor Scott is so entrenched in hispolicies for extremely limited restoration of civilrights (RCR), we must fire him!

Election of a Democratic governor will finally let usmake progress toward equal justice, and enact there-enfranchisement of over a million individualsin the State of Florida. We are the Sunshine State,and we dont want to be

The State of Shame.

Felony Disfranchisement LawsHave a Long, Shameful History

by TOMAS LOPEZ, Brennan Center For Justiceand Rev. Patrick Delahanty, Executive Director

of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.

Eric Holder and Rand Paul Its not everyday that the nations chief law enforcement officerand a Republican senator from Kentucky agree onsomething. But thats exactly whats happening

this month, with Attorney General Eric Holdercalling on states to repeal felony disfranchisementlaws and Sen. Rand Paul pushing reform in hisstate of one of the countrys harshest.

A Long and Shameful History Felonydisfranchisement laws have a long and shamefulhistory. Criminal disfranchisement laws werepart of the effort to maintain white control overaccess to the polls after Reconstruction.

Over the next 100 years, Jim Crow lawscontinued to prevent many people from castinga ballot (see box above). The Voting Rights Actsigned in 1965, helped reverse the tide, butmany felony disfranchisement laws remain onthe books, a relic of the past.

Changing Much of this has changed over

the past two decades. More than 20 states haveimproved these laws, either repealing permanentvoting bans or easing the restoration processJust last year, Delaware passed a constitutionalamendment that undid much of its felonydisfranchisement law, and Virginias governorissued an executive order that made it possiblefor more people to get their voting rights backIn 2014, states are introducing bills that expandopportunities for people with criminal convictionsto restore their voting rights. We are very close to

a tipping point.

About Fairness We have seen this progressbecause Americans understand this issue is notabout political points; it is about fairness. Whichis why leaders from the full range of sectors andideologies support felony disfranchisement re-form. They include law enforcement profession-als, faith leaders and elected officials.

[Continued on page 5, Shameful]

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[Shameful, continued from page 4]

[Continued on page 6, Propaganda Machine]

Sleepwalking Toward PlutocracyMarshall C. Whitfield (1935-2012)

for Buzzflash At Truthout

Chapter 6The Hijacked Republicans

Propaganda Machine[Continued from Issue 14-6]

Their Strategy The Plutocratic Republicanpolitical strategy is breathtakingly brazen: tomanipulate ill-informed working Americans intovoting directly against their own interests i.e.to allow more water and air pollution, and to givtax breaks to billionaires.

The Propaganda Factory This manipulationstrategy is implemented with a well-organizedpropaganda factory. At its upstream end, severadozen conservative think tanks churn out paperon current events, foreign relations, etc. All othese articles and opinions are based on carefullyselected actual facts, cleverly woven together withsimplistic elements of Libertarianism, jingoistipatriotism and everyones aversion to taxes.

Who Its Fed To Downstream, this professionally-prepared propaganda is fed to Republican politicians, who wrap themselves in flagsguns and religion and promise to restore thconstitution, reduce taxes for everyone, and gegovernment off your back.

Playing On Fears Democrats are portrayed

as socialists trying to steal Americans liberty andfreedom, as enemies of free enterprise, as wastrelin favor of a welfare state, as godless secularistattacking Christian family values, and as traitorwho somehow put a black man in the White House

Response To The Threats In responseto these threats, Republicans must take backour government, and doing so may requirour Second Amendment rights. With thisthe Plutocratic Republican rhetoric flirts withinsurrection recklessly dangerous in an

already-gun-crazed nation.The Medias Culpability Theres nothing newof course, about political propaganda. But what inew is the recent evolution of media outlets. Befor1980, nothing like Fox News or right wing talkradio existed, and the Internet was in its infancyNow, with talk radio and the Internet, any politicamessage can reach most of the population.

George W. Bush signed legislation to amend Tex-ass law about 17 years ago. Rick Santorum sup-ported reform of these laws during his presidentialrun. And, earlier in the year, in a Kentucky Sen-ate hearing, Sen. Paul spoke about why his homestate should join the nation in moving forward torestore voting rights, which could help address acycle.., of crime and poverty and drugs and re-pair lives set back by incarceration.

They and others like them simply recognize thatthere are millions of people who are part of thiscountrys workforce and family units but not alsoa part of its electorate.

Frequently, when people talk about voting rights,they talk about the past. That is important. Whenit comes to felony disfranchisement, the recentpast is marked by progress right up to today.

But many would agree this issue is about the future about having the most basic say in where ourcommunities and country go from here. States likeKentucky and others considering reform shouldseize this moment and make laws based not onindividual past acts but on that shared future.

Deny Millions Of Ex-Felons Voting [email protected]

Eric Bates was caught twice in the late 1990s drivingwith a suspended license, and then again in 2006.That third time, under then-Virginia law, Bates wasconsidered a habitual offender and was prosecuted asa felon.

He served 14 months in prison and was released in2008. He returned home hoping to put his legal issues

behind him and move on with his life.

But like many of the 1 million people who are releasedfrom correctional facilities each year, Bates said he hashad difficulty finding steady work and making ends

meet His rather pedestrian criminal record has alsocome with one other lingering consequence: Bates hadfound himself among the approximately 5.8 million

whose voting rights have been taken away because ofa felony conviction.

I owned up to my crime. I served my time and Ijust want my rights back, Bates, 53, an unemployedelectrical engineer, told The Huffington Post I wantto participate. But its just as well as if I murderedsomebody. Was a life sentence.

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[Propaganda Machine,continued from page 5] Classic Brainwashing This is classicbrainwashing. Over time, it works on virtuallyanyone, regardless of IQ or education. As JoeSixpack sits in traffic, the lies he hears over andover provide an answer for why his life isnbetter, and slowly, they become his worldviewWhich, per a 2010 poll of Republicans, includesthe following:

31 percent believe Obama is a racist whohates white people, and

23 percent want their state to secede fromthe U.S.

The Republican Propaganda Machine hassucceeded in brainwashing millions of Americanvoters, leaving them not only primed to voteRepublican, but paranoid, angry aboutgovernment, cynical about democracy, and readyto reach for their guns. This is fine with thePlutocrats. The last thing they want is a contented

populace with minds clear to reflect on whatexactly the Republican party really offers them.

These brainwashed millions add to the science-deniers, states-righters, and Christians awaitingRapture, creating a huge block of our electoratewhich is susceptible to the vote-against-yourinterest manipulation that is critical to thePlutocrats strategy.

So Thats The Hijacking, how it happenedits ideology, and how it works. Its the keyto understanding American politics todayOnce you get your head around the fact tha

conservative ideology and the Republican partyare controlled by Plutocrats, our biggest politicaand economic problems snap into place and arereadily understandable.

Despair Benefits Republicans.Small government benefits the rich.

The Party Line This wider array of mediaoffers synergy to the Republican machineshighly disciplined propaganda. Because theirmessages all conform to the master partyline, these various media outlets form a self-reinforcing, self-verifying echo chamber. Themessages can be quite disconnected from reality,but they are convincing in their consistency, and

the echo chamber becomes a familiar comfortzone. Unless you force yourself to step outside, itbecomes your own confirmed truth.

Right-Wing Talk Radio Of these outlets,the least understood by liberals is right-wing talkradio. If your car radio should happen to stop onsuch a channel, youll hear some guy haranguingyou about how Obama is a secret Muslim, howhis Stimulus didnt create a single job, how theSTART treaty proves he wants to unilaterallydisarm the U.S., or how Pelosi is really Mussolini

in a skirt, on and on. Its annoying, crazy talk,so you turn the dial.

The Power of Talk Radio By turning thedial, you miss the power of talk radio. Its effecttakes time and repetition, like Chinese watertorture. To grasp its insidious potency, imagineyourself as Joe Sixpack, a typical guy with moneyworries and family distractions, someone whokeeps up on things by watching a hour or so ofFox News each evening.

Joe Commuter Imagine that you have a two-hour commute -- one hour each way to work andback. The car radio brings you Dennis Prager inthe morning and Michael Medved going home.These guys are very, very good at what they do.They give you the inside scoop on Obamas endlessmisdeeds, his traitorous Marxist regime, andgrave foreign threats being ignored. You hear thistwo hours a day, five days a week, year after year.And what you hear is confirmed on Fox News.

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In 2012, on the eve of theelection, a pollster was

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The pollster knew thatDemocrats would stay homenot wanting to put themselvesin danger of having an accident

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There are more Democratsthan Republicans, but

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Order your mail ballot now!Call 561-656-6200

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OFFICES UP FOR ELECTION 2014

Palm Beach County Florida

1 U.S. House of Representatives District 20 x x 2 yr



4 Florida Governor & Lieutenant Governor x x 4 yr

5 Florida Attorney General x x 4 yr

6 Florida Chief Financial Officer x x 4 yr

7 Florida Commissioner of Agriculture x x 4 yr

8 State Attorney x x 4 yr

9 Public Defender x x 4 yr

10 Florida Senate District 32 x x 4 yr

11 Florida Senate District 34 x x 4 yr

12 Florida House of Representatives District 81 x x 2 yr

13 Florida House of Representatives District82

x x 2 yr



x x 2 yr



x x 2 yr


x x 2 yr

19 Florida House of Representatives District

90

x x 2 yr


21 Dist Court of Appeals Judge - 4th AppelateDist

x 6 yr yes

22 Circuit Court Judge - 15th Judicial Circuit

23 Group 05 x x 6 yr yes












35 East County Water Control District

36 Seat 2

37 Seat 4

38 Palm Beach County Court Judge






44 Palm Beach County Commission

45 District 2 x x 4 yr



48 Palm Beach County School Board

49 District 3 x x 4 yr yes50 District 4 x x 4 yr yes

51 District 6 x x 4 yr yes


53 Briger Community Development District

54 Seat 1 x 4 yr yes



57 Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District

58 Seat 2 within City/within District x 4 yr yes

59 Seat 4 outside City/within District x 4 yr yes

60 Hamal Community Development District



Statewide OfficesAugust

Election

(Primary)

November

Election

(General)

TermNon

Partisan

Merit

Retention

63 Huypoluxo/Haverhill CommunityDevelopment District



66 Indian Trail Improvement District

67 Seat 1 x x 4 yr yes



70 Journeys End Community DevelopmentDistrict



73 Jupiter Inlet District Commission



76 Loxahatchee River Environmental ControlDistrict

77 Area 3 x 4 yr yes

78 Area 4 x 4 yr yes

79 Marsh Harbour Community DevelopmentDistrict



82 Monterey/Congress CommunityDevelopment District




86 Northern Palm Beach County ImprovementDistrict




90 Palm Beach Plantation CommunityDevelopment District




94 Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation

District95 Group 1 x 4 yr yes

96 Group 3 x 4 yr yes

97 Group 5 x 4 yr yes

98 Port of Palm Beach

99 Group 4 x x 4 yr

Group 5 x x 4 yr

101 Renaissance Commons CommunityDevelopment District



104 Terracina Community Development District




Thousand Oaks Community Development

District109 Seat 1 x 4 yr yes



112 Vista Community Development District



115 Winston Trails East CommunityDevelopment District



118 Wyndham Park Community DevelopmentDistrict




Statewide OfficesAugust

Election

(Primary)

November

Election

(General)

TermNon

Partisan

M

Ret

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14-7E Scott & Voter Disfranchisement