skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Florida an Outlier in Denying Voting Rights

play audio
Play

Tuesday, December 20, 2016   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Although the era of Jim Crow laws is history, an estimated 21 percent of Florida's voting-age African-American males are not able to vote, according to a new report.

The report from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found the state's lifetime ban on voting for those with felony convictions, and its long, slow clemency process disenfranchise 1.6 million people, more than any state in the nation.

The report authors say harsh disenfranchisement laws often lead to decreased voter turnout even among those who are not incarcerated, which Pamela Goodman, the president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, calls an outrageous cycle.

"The bottom line is, these are people who have done their time, paid their restitution, and are sadly and mistakenly not having their rights restored," she said.

Right now, those with past felony convictions can only apply to the state Clemency Board to have their voting rights restored after finishing all portions of their sentence, waiting five years, and paying any outstanding fees and fines. The report notes that over the past two decades, more than 20 states have changed their laws to make voting-rights restoration easier and faster for those with past convictions.

The Clemency Board meets just four times per year, and at its most recent meeting heard 48 petitions for voting-rights restorations. But Goodman said there are 12,000 appeals on file, and that doesn't include the hundreds of thousands of Floridians who haven't filed for restoration of their rights because the process is so complicated, expensive and time-consuming.

"Truly, it comes down to just one elected individual, our governor, who has slowed this to the state that it is today," she added.

The Florida Supreme Court is evaluating a ballot initiative that would amend the state's constitution and drastically reform the law. If approved, it would go before voters in November of 2018.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021