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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    A day of celebration in Florida as 1.4 million ex-felons have voting rights restored

    Amendment 4: 'A day of celebration' in Florida as 1.4 million ex-felons have voting rights restored

    Steven Lemongello and Skyler Swisher Contact Reporter Orlando Sentinel

    Desmond Meade spent years traveling to every corner of Florida gathering petition signatures to restore voting rights to former felons. On Tuesday, all he had to do to register to vote for the first time in decades was walk a few steps into the Orange County elections office.

    “One hundred and fifty years of disenfranchisement, and this moment here means the end,” Meade said, referring to the years after the Civil War when felons were first barred from voting during Reconstruction. “This is a moment for democracy.”


    The right to vote was restored to more than 1.4 million former felons across the state Tuesday thanks to Amendment 4’s victory at the ballot box in November, leading to emotional scenes as tears flowed, confetti was thrown and U.S. flags were waved.


    Moments after Desmond Meade registered to vote under Amendment 4, his family and friends gathered for celebration at the Orange County Florida Supervisor of Elections office. Tuesday, January 8, 2018. (Sarah Espedido / Orlando Sentinel)


    Despite concerns about Gov. Ron DeSantis’s comments last month that he wanted to wait to implement Amendment 4 until the Legislature convenes in March, advocates including the League of Women Voters and the ACLU of Florida declared that the measure was designed to be self-implementing and went into effect Tuesday no matter what the Legislature does.

    County supervisors across the state, including Bill Cowles in Orange County, Mary Jane Arrington in Osceola, Mike Ertel in Seminole County, who will soon be in charge of implementing elections laws as DeSantis’s secretary of state, had said they would begin registering people immediately.

    After that, Cowles said Tuesday, it is up to the state to confirm that a former felon has completed all parole and probation and paid all fines and restitution. Those convicted of murder or sex crimes are still barred from having their rights restored.


    “If you believe you have completed all requirements, then complete the form,” Cowles said.


    Tuesday morning, there were no reports of any issues with registering former felons, with the Tampa Bay Times reporting U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist escorted one new voter to the Pinellas elections office as it opened. The Lake County elections office also said ex-felons are welcome to register.


    Rebecca Quinn, the assistant supervisor in Seminole County, said the office doesn’t ask people if they were there because of Amendment 4. But there had been a notable uptick in people coming in to register in person instead of online, she said, and a few people were taking pictures of family members registering.


    Sheena Meade, a former Florida House candidate and Desmond’s wife, said many people didn’t even wait until offices opened in the morning to register, instead filling out the form online after midnight.


    “At 12:01 a.m. I’m texting everybody, ‘Happy Returning Citizen Registration Day,’” Sheena Meade said. “Some people were texting us in the middle of the night.”



    In South Florida, elections supervisors in neighboring counties had very different reactions to the day’s events.

    In Palm Beach County, Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher called Tuesday was a “historic” day, adding the state had “shamelessly” disenfranchised its residents by not allowing them to have their voting rights automatically restored.


    “Today … will be memorialized in Florida history for allowing every citizen to have a vote," she said.


    Broward County's elections office also accepted voter registration forms from people with felony convictions, but its newly installed director Pete Antonacci took a more measured tone on the day's significance.


    “It's a regular day at the supervisor's office,” he said.


    From 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m., only three people had signed up to vote, Antonacci said.


    Antonacci was appointed by outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott to replace former Broward elections head Brenda Snipes, who was suspended from office amid allegations of incompetence during the 2018 recount.


    David Ayala, alongside his wife state attorney Aramis Ayala, walk into the Orange County Florida Supervisor of Elections office moments before he registered to vote as a returning citizen under Amendment 4. Tuesday, January 8, 2018. (Sarah Espedido / Orlando Sentinel)


    In Orlando,Desmond Meade was the first to fill out the form at the stroke of 8 a.m., laughing as he came to the box that requires a registrant to “affirm I am not a convicted felon, or if I am, that my right to vote has been restored.”

    “That’s one box I don’t mind checking,” Meade said.


    Afterward, following streams of confetti and photos with his family in front of the elections office sign, Meade talked about how things had changed since the days when he was a drug addict, leading to his convictions on drug and firearm charges in 2001.


    “My addiction took me to the railroad tracks,” he said. “I was going to jump on the tracks, but the train didn’t come that day.”


    He eventually got his law degree, he said, and began his push for Amendment 4 when he couldn’t vote for his wife in her own election.


    “This is happening all across the state,” Meade said. “I know in Lee County, Hillsborough County, Bay County, so many people are walking in with friends and family and supporters. … This is a day of celebration. Any time more people can experience democracy, it’s a great day for everybody.”


    Marquis McKenzie proudly holds up the receipt of his voter registration form. Just moments after he registered to vote as a returning citizen under Amendment 4. Tuesday, January 8, 2018. ( (Sarah Espedido / Orlando Sentinel)


    A few minutes later, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala arrived with her husband, David, who has never voted due to a felony drug conviction when he was 16.

    “I’m ecstatic,” David Ayala said. “I lost my right to vote before I was even eligible to vote, and before I knew how important voting is.”


    Not being allowed to vote for his wife to become the state’s first-ever African American state attorney, he said, “Was a dark moment, not being able to participate in her moment of history. … I knocked on doors, made calls, but wasn’t able to do the most important thing you can do.”


    He later broke down in tears hugging his sister, Mariely Feraro.


    “I believe in a wider democracy,” Aramis Ayala said. “When a debt is paid, a debt is paid.”


    “And getting a new voter always helps too,” she joked.


    Marquis McKenzie, meanwhile, who had also lost his right to vote before adulthood after a teenage conviction for robbery, was already looking ahead.


    “I’m ready to vote,” McKenzie said. “I’m just getting started now.”

    https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...107-story.html

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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