News & Events » News Archive » 2001 Press Releases
Hands-on Workshop to Restore Ex-Felons Civil Rights
Date: Saturday, 25 August 2001.
Time: 10AM to 2PM
Location of Workshop: Allen Temple AME Church, 2101 North Lowe Street, Tampa, Florida 33605-3517. (Corner of Palm Avenue and Nuccio Parkway, Ybor City), For Information Call (813) 233-2857
In an effort to help ex-offenders navigate the lengthy and complicated process of restoring their voting rights, the Allen Temple AME Church & the Greater Tampa Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union are sponsoring a Town Hall Meeting and Workshop to educate former offenders and their friends on how to regain their right to vote.
This will be a practical workshop where ACLU cooperating attorneys and attorneys from the Black Bar Association will help individuals to obtain the required information and to complete the required forms and procedures to regain their voting rights in the State of Florida.
Hillsborough Election Supervisor Pam Iorio; State Representative Arthenia Joyner; Randall Marshall, ACLU State Legal Director; a representative from the Governor's Clemency Board will speak to the issues of restoration of voting rights.
It is difficult for ex-offenders to get their rights restored. They must go through a complicated process to with the Governors Office of Executive Clemency. The requests are finally reviewed and approved by the Clemency Board made up of the governor and his cabinet members. Last year, only 1,024 Florida citizens were able to successfully complete the process.
Florida is one of only 14 states that fail to automatically restore the civil rights of ex-offenders upon their release from custody or supervision. The result is a mass disenfranchisement of more than 647,000 people; many are voting-age black males. Over 31% of the state's disenfranchised felons are black. Florida has more disenfranchised felons than any other state, about 5.9% of the total population.
Event Coordinators for the Tampa ACLU include Mr. Rodrick Colbert (email: RodrickColbert@yahoo.com, telephone: (813) 615-1666) & Mr. Mike Pheneger, email: mphenege@tampabay.rr.com, home telephone: (813) 962-1847.
For more Information: Contact Sonya Pridges, Legislative Assistant for Representative Arthenia Joyner, (813) 233-2857, pridges.sonya@leg.state.fl.us
The Town Hall Meeting is one of several being sponsored by ACLU chapters in Florida as part of the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
