Home » About » Newsletters » September 2003
"Activists Coordinate Hands-on Rights Restoration Workshops Across Florida"
September 2003 Edition of the ACLU of Florida Newsletter
Courtenay Strickland, Director
Rights Restoration Project
On Saturday, July 26, 2003, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a group of more than forty non-partisan local, state and national organizations, hosted ten workshops across Florida to assist people with past felony convictions in applying for restoration of their civil rights, including the right to vote and hold certain state job licenses.
In all, nearly 900 people joined together on July 26 to overcome the barriers to restoring civil rights and to call for an end to Florida's unjust voting and civil rights ban.
An estimated 662 persons were assisted by some 211 volunteers from various organizations. As a result, hundreds of applications will be forwarded to the Office of Executive Clemency in Tallahassee for processing. A rights restoration workshop was occurring somewhere in Florida on July 26 from 10:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening. Workshops were held in Alachua County (Gainesville), Brevard County (Cocoa), Broward County (Fort Lauderdale), Escambia County (Pensacola), Hillsborough County (Tampa), Lee County (Fort Myers), Miami-Dade County (Miami), Orange County (Orlando), Pinellas County (St. Petersburg), and Santa Rosa County (Milton).
Events on July 26 garnered news coverage throughout the state, with articles, editorials, reports and/or listings in the Miami Herald, Miami Times, Hot 105 radio WHQT in Miami/Broward, WMBM radio Miami, WFOR CBS South Florida Channel 4, WTSP Channel 10 Tampa/St. Petersburg, public radio station WGCU in Fort Myers, ABC and NBC local television affiliates in Fort Myers, the Fort Myers News Press, Orlando Sentinel, Associated Press, Florida Today in Brevard County, St. Petersburg Times, WMNF radio in Tampa, WUSF radio in Tampa, WUWF radio in Pensacola, and many more media outlets.
Requests for assistance continue to pour into the ACLU of Florida state office in Miami, from which self-help packets are being mailed to applicants. Volunteers throughout the state have also continued to respond to additional requests for assistance by holding follow-up workshops in their areas, making appointments with individual applicants, and responding to phone calls.
July 26 represented a massive, statewide volunteer effort. It underscored the level of need that exists and the strong desire of Florida's more than 500,000 disenfranchised citizens to regain their right to vote and hold state job licenses. It was a call to action in the struggle for justice and fairness. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is currently planning future actions.
