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More than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions get back their right to vote today

8% of the US population has a felony conviction so FL is doing better than most states

Probably because they have a higher percentage of retired people than most states who were wealthy enough to relocate there.
 
Sounds like tactics to try and swing Florida in favor of Democrats for presidential races.

When everyone votes Democrats win. If you don't like that, maybe the Republican party should update their platform.
 
You are simply ignorant of the facts.

I presented the facts, including a link which gives you, state-by-state, felon disenfranchisement/restoration laws.
 
That reminds me of the "If gays want to get married then there shouldn't be marriage" argument.

So long as voter registration is a thing then it might as well be automatic for all citizens once they turn 18.

It wouldn't bother me to do that if there was some way to verify where they lived. It should be an intended action by the person turning 18. Otherwise, you will have numerous "not affiliated" voter registration card going to addresses of the wrong people, and some of that percentage used illegally.
 
Felons losing voting rights, whatever you think of it, doesn't have anything to do with "Jim Crow." The history of it goes back to Greco-Roman times, and current practices developed out of (as most US legal practices do) the English common law system.

State laws vary, but there's no pattern at all which indicates felon disenfranchisement is an artifact of "Jim Crow."

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx



I presented the facts, including a link which gives you, state-by-state, felon disenfranchisement/restoration laws.

That's nice... it doesn't mention a thing about why they were instituted in the first place.
 
It wouldn't bother me to do that if there was some way to verify where they lived. It should be an intended action by the person turning 18. Otherwise, you will have numerous "not affiliated" voter registration card going to addresses of the wrong people, and some of that percentage used illegally.

Do you have evidence that this is a problem in the states with automatic voter registration?
 
Because it's good for Democracy.



Not a fan of analogies, I see. I do wonder what common trait underlies people who are hostile to the use of analogies.
Not a fan of poor analogies, no. Any similarity to the gay marriage issue tells us nothing about why automatic voter registration would be good for the country. Things that are good for democracy are not de facto good for the country. Have you given the issue any deep thought? It's coming off like a whim. There are many, many things we choose not to make automatic just because they're legal.
 
No, they want a twisted version of it.

A version of Democracy in which the people are able to participate in free and fair elections? If that's "twisted," then whatever.
 
What’s utterly assinine is either voter fraud isn’t a felony in Florida, or they want to allow those to vote too.
 
If you believe that it's Democrats who predominantly want Democracy, I'll take that.
The rather tepid response by most Democrats to the DNC rigging the 2016 primary suggests otherwise.
 
The rather tepid response by most Democrats to the DNC rigging the 2016 primary suggests otherwise.

Who's trying to expand voting to the greatest number of people and who's trying to restrict voting to the smallest number of people? Republicans are aware that if they want to keep power through elections, then restricting voting to as few people as possible is the only path to keep that power.
 


Not one of these links does anything more than you did, simply claim, with no support, that felony disenfranchisement was part of Jim Crow. One story notes that Southern state constitutions written after the Civil War included felony disenfranchisement provisions, believing, apparently, that the timing is sufficient to establish it was part of Jim Crow. But it doesn't note that they also had them in their constitutions BEFORE the Civil War, too, when there was no black voting, and the Florida provision in question, for example, is nearly identical to its 1838 constitution counterpart.

Why were Southern state constitutions re-written in the 1860s? Because they were required to be after losing the Civil War.

Southern policies on felon disenfranchisement didn't suddenly spring up during the Jim Crow era.


That's nice... it doesn't mention a thing about why they were instituted in the first place.

What it shows is the distribution of similar disenfranchisement rights all over the country, not just in the South, and that the Southern states are represented proportionately in every construct type, along with almost every other state. If it were a "Jim Crow" thing, it wouldn't be so.
 
Who's trying to expand voting to the greatest number of people and who's trying to restrict voting to the smallest number of people?
Wouldn't it be better for "democracy" if did away with representative government altogether?
 
Wouldn't it be better for "democracy" if did away with representative government altogether?

"If gays are going to be married then government should get out of marriage."

I understand that the reason why I'm bringing that up is going over your head.
 
Better for who?

No worries, the majority of them will be back in jail. Once an offender always an offender. The statistics show the rate of re-offending is extremely high.
 
Who's trying to expand voting to the greatest number of people and who's trying to restrict voting to the smallest number of people? Republicans are aware that if they want to keep power through elections, then restricting voting to as few people as possible is the only path to keep that power.
I don't know about Republicans in general, but I'm certainly for restricting voting to the subset of people who show at least minimal investment in the process by taking the step to register.

And lets be real. Democrats are into "expanding voting to the greatest number of people" only insofar as they expect that most of those people will vote for Democrats.
 
"If gays are going to be married then government should get out of marriage."

I understand that the reason why I'm bringing that up is going over your head.

I know the reason. You can't answer these questions so you appeal to emotion.
 
I don't know about Republicans in general, but I'm certainly for restricting voting to the subset of people who show at least minimal investment in the process by taking the step to register.

"Only people who are like me should be allowed to vote."

And lets be real. Democrats are into "expanding voting to the greatest number of people" only insofar as they expect that most of those people will vote for Democrats.

What you're admitting is that the only way Republicans can hold on to power is if the majority of the people are not allowed to participate in the Democratic process. What you're admitting, whether you're aware of it or not, is that you've lost the argument on all the policy debates.
 
Happy to see that people can actually serve their time and get their rights restored. Buh bye Jim Crow.

More than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions get back their right to vote today

A new state law takes effect in Florida Tuesday that is expected to restore voting rights to more than a million people with felony convictions -- despite questions from state officials about its implementation. Supporters of the law say there's nothing ambiguous about Amendment 4, which was approved by nearly 65% of Florida voters in the November midterm elections.

The new law says voting rights shall be restored to those with felony convictions who complete all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense.​

If they have paid their debt to society I have no issue with them getting their voting rights back. Particularly if those convictions are drug use related, especially marijuana which should be legal.
 
Happy to see that people can actually serve their time and get their rights restored. Buh bye Jim Crow.

More than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions get back their right to vote today

A new state law takes effect in Florida Tuesday that is expected to restore voting rights to more than a million people with felony convictions -- despite questions from state officials about its implementation. Supporters of the law say there's nothing ambiguous about Amendment 4, which was approved by nearly 65% of Florida voters in the November midterm elections.

The new law says voting rights shall be restored to those with felony convictions who complete all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense.​

If they served their time, and they are walking free amongst their fellow Floridians, then they should get the right to vote. I don't even see where this would be debatable or confusing.
 
No worries, the majority of them will be back in jail. Once an offender always an offender. The statistics show the rate of re-offending is extremely high.

Math is funny.

At an 85% recidivism rate, 15% never re-offend. And that 85% includes multiple repeat offenders. So its not all "new" people added to the total. A large part of that 85% are just the same people over and over.
 
Until FL extends this restoration of rights to gun ownership it is a half measure. I hope FL will restore all.rights and not just Democratic Party approved rights
 
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