[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S6826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          FLORIDA VOTING ROLLS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I call to the attention of the 
Senate the potential disaster in the making with regard to the 
Presidential election in the State of Florida. Everyone in the country 
knows what we went through 4 years ago in the Presidential election. It 
ended up being the difference of 537 votes that then cast Florida's 
electoral votes to decide the national Presidential election.
  To the great surprise and dismay of many registered voters who 
arrived at the polling places ready to cast their votes 4 years ago, 
they were told their names had been struck from the voting rolls 
because they were convicted felons, when, in fact, they were not. They 
had a similar name, like John Doe or Jane Doe, that was on a list of 
100,000-plus convicted felon names that had been sent out to the 67 
county election supervisors. They had struck these names.
  Members of the Senate, we have a disaster in the making again. The 
State of Florida has now sent out a list of 48,000 convicted felons 
whose names are to be struck from the voting rolls when, in fact, the 
matches are not guaranteed. To the contrary, several election 
supervisors have already received the list and noticed, in fact, they 
have employees in their own offices who were to be struck. They are not 
convicted felons.
  We simply cannot allow this to happen. This raises questions about 
our ability to cast our vote in a Presidential election.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I certainly yield to the distinguished Senator 
from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. I appreciate very much the Senator bringing this matter to 
the attention of the Senate and the country.
  I have strong views that if someone has been convicted of a crime and 
has fulfilled the terms of the sentence by that court and completed 
their probationary period or period of parole, that person should be 
able to vote. If a sentence is too short, give them longer sentences. 
But if someone, in effect, has been punished and completed their terms 
of punishment--retribution, call it whatever you want--that person 
should be able to vote.
  It should be a national law that when someone completes the terms of 
their imprisonment, parole, probation, they should be able to vote. It 
is unfair to people who are trying to get back on their feet to not be 
able to be part of the American system. That is what we want them to 
do. We send them to prison to be rehabilitated. Part of their 
rehabilitation is the ability to vote.

  Would the Senator acknowledge there is some merit to my statement?
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. The Senator has pointed out an underlying 
principle of fairness. Florida is only one of seven States that has a 
process whereby a convicted felon has to restore their voting rights.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, 1 additional minute.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I thank the Senator.
  I conclude by saying to the Senator from Nevada, it is important. 
This is another principle that is about to be violated; that is, the 
principle of the right to vote--that if you are a registered voter, and 
you get to the voting precinct, you find you cannot vote because your 
name has been mistakenly struck because it happens to be a match with 
the name of a convicted felon under another Florida law.
  So what I have done is filed a friend of the court brief, an amicus 
curie, along with the CNN suit against the State of Florida that says 
the public ought to have a right to inspect those voting rolls and 
those lists of 48,000 names to be struck.
  The State of Florida says, under a law, the public cannot inspect 
those records and copy them. I hope the suit will be successful in 
declaring the law unconstitutional and remove this cloud from our 
ability to vote.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
  The Senator from the great State of Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, how much time do I have?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 8 minutes.
  Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Presiding Officer.

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