If you are a convicted felon in Florida, you have a long wait and an uphill climb to persuade Florida’s highest elected officials to restore your right to vote — even if you have paid your debt to society in full. On Monday, Public Defender Larry Eger and Michael Barfield, vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, urged about 40 people at a League of Women Voters of Manatee County forum to support a proposed constitutional amendment that will automatically restore a felon’s voting rights once “all terms of sentence including parole or probation” are completed.
With the state League and ACLU having already endorsed the measure spearheaded by the Clearwater-based Floridians for a Fair Democracy, Barfield and Eger found a sympathetic audience for their presentation at the Bradenton Woman’s Club — which Manatee Educational Television recorded and will show later on its the cable channel.
Of all the procedures for restoring convicted criminals’ civil rights, “it’s well known that across the country that Florida’s is the most onerous,” said Barfield, a paralegal with previous theft convictions now known for his local activism in challenging elected officials in public meetings and records cases.
Read More Proposed amendment would restore felons’ voting rights | HeraldTribune.com.