Posted on 12/26/2006 2:31:39 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
Today: December 26, 2006 at 13:45:15 PST
Convicted Lawmaker Wants Felons to Vote
By BRENT KALLESTAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A bill that would automatically return voting rights to felons after they complete their sentences has been introduced by a Florida legislator who is still in office even though he is a convicted felon.
The bill introduced Thursday by state Sen. Gary Siplin would change the state's long-standing constitutional ban on felon voting. Now, a felon's rights can only be restored by the state's clemency board, which must hear each case in a process that can take months or years.
Florida is one of just three states - all in the South - that don't automatically restore voting rights after completion of a sentence, said Senate Minority Leader Steven Geller.
Siplin, a two-term Democrat from Orlando, was convicted in August on felony grand theft charges for having employees work on his 2004 re-election campaign on state time. He was sentenced last month to three years' probation and 300 hours of community service, but that has been postponed pending his appeal.
Although the conviction disqualified Siplin from voting in the November election, he has not been formally removed from the state's voter database, Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles told The Miami Herald earlier this month. There was no additional comment from Cowles on Tuesday; his office was closed and phones there didn't accept messages.
Any effort to remove Siplin from his seat would have to be initiated by Senate President Ken Pruitt, a Republican, and voted on by the Senate, but a state Supreme Court ruling in 1918 said an elected official cannot be disqualified from office until a criminal case has been decided on appeal.
"We're not in a position to take action on this," Pruitt said.
The Florida Senate has never expelled one of its members.
Senate leaders from both parties said Tuesday they would have preferred that Siplin not get involved with the issue. "It probably wasn't the smartest bill for Gary to file," said Geller.
However, a similar bill was filed a week earlier by state Sen. Mandy Dawson.
Siplin, 52, an Orlando attorney, is the first Florida legislator to remain in office after a felony conviction. Calls to his Orlando and Capitol offices seeking comment Tuesday were not immediately returned.
Siplin was briefly jailed last month for traveling to Tallahassee without informing his probation officer.
Democrats unite. Baby killers, illegal immigrants, felons, etc.
Now, tell us all again, why this allowed?
The gubbmint wants me to obey all their stupid laws? Why should anyone?
Feh!
FMCDH(BITS)
Couple of elections and you could clean the streats of these guys.
I myself am a convicted felon (drunk driving) who votes but I am opposed to people who are incarcerated, on parole, or probation voting. Also it's a states rights issue. My state allows former felons to vote and it works fine.
However we now have a state legislator who has an armed robbery conviction and I think that's going a bit far.
I see no reason why someone who has done his time shouldn't be able to vote and be a full citizen. The fight won't go anywhere because of political concerns but this lawmaker is right.
If they are going to restore voting rights...they might as well restore all of them.
Have the Republicans attach Gun Rights as an amendment to this bill and watch'em squirm.
Well, here in California, a felon can vote if he's no longer incarcerated AND has finished parole, if any. People on probation can vote with no restrictions. Probation, especially unsupervised probation, as for a traffic offense, should not be a bar to voting.
I tend to think that people who make it "out of the system" do so because we truly clean our lives up. Frankly, the last thing a guy who is still committing crimes wants to do is vote anyway.
Voting while in prison or jail is another issue. Those guys will vote simply to change the pace of everyday life and they're going to vote for the guy who promises to get them out fastest. I believe Maine is the only state that "legally" allows prison inmates to vote.
I've got an idea. Lets tie voting rights to gun ownership rights. That would leave RATS running in circles trying to figure out how to ban guns but still let felons vote.
If they want felons to vote they would have to give them their gun rights back also. Non violent felons can now appeal to get back their gun ownership rights. That could be changed to include voting rights.
If they can't be trusted to own guns, they shouldn't be trusted to vote!
Most of you guys don't get it. Ex-cons don't vote for the demorats in any great numbers. If anything ex-cons are more likely to be tough on criminals when they do bother to vote. The demorats' belief that ex-cons will vote for them is pure urban legend.
I don't say that felons ought to have all their rights restored -- but if they don't, they ought not to pay taxes either.
Think the RAT lawmaker wants to restore their gun rights, too?
Georgia restores gun rights, with a few conditions; (1) you have to request that specifically (I think it's a check-box on the form), (2) you can't have been convicted of possession of a firearm during a crime or or felony drug offenses, and (3) it only applies in Georgia; you're still on the record as a convicted felon, so if you want to carry in any other states, you have to apply to them (one at a time, I assume; I don't know of any receiprocal agreement on that).
I wouldn't put it in such blanket terms. Ex-felons who've gotten themselves on the straight and narrow are likely to be "tough on crime" in the sense that they want criminals caught and punished, but I'd expect them to be more supportive of diversion and rehabilitation programs and less so of long, especially mandatory minimum, sentences. I certainly would NOT expect people who served time for relatively minor drug offenses to be supportive of the WOD.
He's already on the list (see my profile.)
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