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Ethereal Fairy Natalie's avatar

Yes, he really pulled that one out of his ass. But, some very dedicated people are forcing them to come up with some numbers, and are getting them paid off, but it is a slow process. Did you know how they did the re-enfranchising before that? They handled them by individual cases and met once a month and the gov would approve them, if he felt like it. Charlie Christ did it differently he approved mass numbers the most on record.You might enjoy this.

"Florida’s labyrinthine and lengthy clemency process has been assailed for decades as a system designed to keep Black people from voting. But the changes imposed in 2011 made the system dramatically harder.

During Scott’s eight-year tenure, he and the clemency board restored the voting rights of about 3,000 of the more than 30,000 convicted felons who applied, according to the Florida Commission on Offender Review. In contrast, more than 155,000 ex-felons had their right to vote automatically restored during the four years of former Gov. Charlie Crist’s tenure, according to court documents.

TALLAHASSEE — For the past decade, felons in Florida have had to wait at least five years after being released from prison before becoming eligible to have their civil rights restored.

But on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, acting as the Board of Executive Clemency, did away with the waiting periods, opening the door for thousands of so-called “returning citizens” to have their rights restored and possibly wiping out a backlog of thousands of other cases awaiting review. The revamped clemency rules also establish an expedited process for felons who have paid all of the legal financial obligations related to their crimes.

The action reversed five- and seven-year waiting periods imposed by the clemency board when it was made up of Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. The changes were adopted shortly after the four Republicans took office in 2011.The plan adopted by the board — made up of DeSantis, Moody, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis — will automatically restore civil rights to felons who have paid all court-ordered fines, fees and restitution related to their crimes. They will have to apply to begin the process of rights restoration, but they will not be required to go before the Board of Executive Clemency to have their cases considered.

Under the new rules, indigent felons with outstanding legal financial obligations will be able to apply to have their civil rights, including the right to vote, serve on a jury and run for public office, restored but will have to go before the clemency board, which has the authority to waive court-ordered fees and fines.

But Fried, Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat, said the revamped clemency rules don’t go far enough to help indigent felons, who make up the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of felons in Florida who have served their time behind bars.

Since taking office in 2019, Fried has pushed DeSantis and other clemency board members to make it easier for felons to have their rights restored. She wants the board to allow felons to sign sworn affidavits attesting that they are indigent to be eligible for “automatic” rights restoration.

The changes approved Wednesday “unfortunately, meets only the bare bones of Amendment 4,” said Fried, who is considering a run against DeSantis next year.

“What about the vast majority who can’t afford the fines, fees, court costs and money that is owed to the government?” she added."

https://www.orlandosentinel...

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The Lego R.B.G.'s avatar

They don't feel the need to rationalize how awful they are. They feel the need to imagine themselves morally superior to the rest of us benighted souls, who hypocritically refuse to admit we agree with them.

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