Ravenwood - 04/14/05 06:15 AM
The push to allow convicted felons to vote hit a setback this week. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Florida's ban on felon voting. They also rejected felon's rights supporters playing the race card, reports the AP.
Allen argued the law is a violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, is antidemocratic, and disproportionally disenfranchises blacks.For those of you who are mathmatically challenged, 167 out of 600 means that 72% of felons are non-black.A total of 600,000 people in Florida are banned; 167,000 are blacks, she said.
The court noted Florida first adopted its ban on felon voting in 1845, basing it on a "nonracial rationale." Blacks were not allowed to vote at the time.
Is that a higher percentage of blacks than the general population of Florida? Not that this should matter - the main reason blacks are more likely to wind up with a felony conviction is that they are more likely to commit one.
But 600,000 felons in the state of Florida seems rather high. I think there are too many "felonies" in the law books.
Posted by: markm at April 15, 2005 5:19 PMI think the idea behind getting felons the right to vote is because that would give them 600,000 more Democrats to vote on election day...
Posted by: Robert Garrard at April 15, 2005 6:37 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
