ABOUT THE ACLU OF FLORIDA:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation's premier guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Since our founding in 1920, the nonprofit, nonpartisan ACLU has grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of over 500,000 members and supporters, with offi ces in almost every state. The ACLU of Florida, with headquarters in Miami, is the local affi liate of the national organization. Chartered in 1965, the ACLU of Florida operates with the help of 36 staff members, 18 volunteer-run chapters and 30,000 members across the state. The ACLU's voting rights work focuses on ensuring that the political process is open and accessible to all, by implementing at every level of the political process the equal voting rights guarantees of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and acts of Congress designed to ensure equality in voting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Muslima Lewis is a Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the ACLU of Florida's Racial Justice and Voting Rights Projects.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

The author would like to thank the entire ACLU of Florida staff, especially La Rhonda Odom, Elton Edwards, Brandon Hensler and Executive Director Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida interns Mark Schonfeld, Maria Sciolto, and especially Rita Thomas, Rachel Bloom and Nicole Kief of the ACLU Racial Justice Program, Mark Schlakman, senior program director at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, and Florida Rights Restoration Coalition members and supporters. The statements made and views expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the ACLU of Florida. The ACLU of Florida thanks the Florida Bar Foundation for its generous support of the ACLU of Florida's civil rights restoration initiatives.

Notes:

1. Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, Locked Out: Felony Disenfranchisement and American Democracy, (Oxford University Press) (2006) at 248. These estimates of Florida's disfranchised population are based on Manza and Uggen's analysis of statistics dated as of December 1, 2004.
2. Id.
3. See Out of Step with the World: An Analysis of Felony Disfranchisement in the U.S. and Other Democracies, Laleh Ispahani, American Civil Liberties Union (May 2006).
4. Manza and Uggen, supra note 1, at 76.
5. Manza and Uggen, supra note 1, at 248.
6. See Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers, The Sentencing Project (Second Ed. 2008)
7. Manza and Uggen, supra note 1, at 251.
8. Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States, The Sentencing Project (2008).
9. See Appendix A for the state constitutional and statutory provisions relating to felony disfranchisement.
10. Rules of Executive Clemency, 9A, adopted September 10, 1975, effective November 1, 1975.
11. Before 2007, some rule changes were designed to remove some restrictions on restoration of civil rights eligibility. However, these changes did little to increase the number of civil rights restoration grants. For example, in 2004, the rules were changed to allow civil rights restored without a hearing for people convicted of less serious offenses who remained arrest-free for fi ve years and for all otherwise eligible persons who remained arrest-free for fi fteen years. See Rules of Executive Clemency, revised December 9, 2004, effective December 9, 2004.
12. Information about recent RCR grants and the average number of RCR grants annually prior to 2007 was provided by the Parole Commission.
13. De Facto Disenfranchisement, Erika Wood and Rachel Bloom, American Civil Liberties Union and Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. (2008)
14. Fla. Stat. Section 98.075 (5) and (7) (2005)
15. Estimates of people ineligible for RCR due to unpaid restitution obligations were provided in 2007 by then Department of Corrections Secretary James McDonough.
16. Final Report of the Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force, at 27 (2006).
17. Rules for Restoration of Civil Rights for Felons and Impacts on Obtaining Occupational Licenses and Other Opportunities, S. 2008-114, at 8 (2007).
18. See Governor Charlie Crist's 2007 inaugural address at http://www.flgov.com/speech2007inaugural.
19. Fla. Stat. Section 14.28 (2008)

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