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Voting Rights
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Voting Rights in Florida: 1982-2006, a new and in-depth study
Voting Rights Issues
The Right to Vote - An Overview
- Ensure the accuracy, accessibility, security and recountability of voting systems
- Address the system of felon disenfranchisement and assist former felons with the process of applying for clemency
- Eliminate additional barriers to casting a ballot and ending the disproportionate racial impact of voting problems
The ACLU of Florida is committed to the ensuring that all citizens are able to cast their votes and have them accurately counted. Because so many of Florida's voting problems, particularly those of the 2000 Presidential election, fell and continue to fall most heavily on African Americans and language minority communities, much of the ACLU's work is directed toward correcting voting irregularities that have a disproportionate impact on those groups. While many positive reforms have been accomplished since 2000, the September 2002 primaries - when some South Florida voters, particularly in majority black precincts, could not cast a ballot due to machine malfunction - demonstrated that more work remains to be done.
In addition to improving the way votes are cast and counted, the ACLU is working to end an enormous injustice underlying our entire voting process - the mass disenfranchisement of more than 600,000 Floridians with past felony convictions. In Florida, civil rights lost upon conviction of a felony include not only the right to vote, but also the right to hold certain state job licenses, which makes it difficult for many people to support their families as productive, tax-paying citizens. The ban, enshrined in Florida's 1868 constitution to prevent newly freed ex-slaves from voting, still has a disproportionate racial impact, with nearly one in three African-American men in Florida unable to vote today. The ACLU seeks to bring Florida into line with the majority of states that already automatically restore voting and civil rights after completion of the sentence. It is the just, fair, and logical step to take - for rehabilitation of offenders, for the good of families, and for the preservation of our democracy.
Because the ACLU recognizes that voting irregularities affect all facets of our community, the ACLU's voting rights work has not been limited racially-based voting discrimination. The ACLU has routinely represented voters and candidates in election contests in order to protect the right to vote and the right to participate in an election process that is fair. The ACLU's voting rights work has involved challenges to elections and voting schemes ranging from city council member to President of the United States. And it has done so without regard for partisan interests and concerns that might have been involved in the elections.
In the box above, you'll find voting rights issues separated by category. Click on your issue of interest for press releases, legal documents and additional information on how you can help preserve the right to vote.
