Florida felon rights restoration a national story

By: Julie Hauserman - July 6, 2018 10:00 am

We’re not the only ones talking about Florida’s flawed voter restoration process for felons. Our Florida Phoenix story, written by CD Davidson-Hiers, covered the lack of standards for the Governor and Cabinet’s arbitrary decisions to either restore or withhold felons’ civil rights and includes some pretty weird public questioning by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

Greg Allen with National Public Radio aired a story Thursday about the anxiety which plagues the people who, four times a year, gather to “hear a decision that will affect the rest of their lives.” Folks in Florida will have a chance to vote on the process of restoring felons’ civil rights on Nov. 6, when Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution is on the ballot.

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Julie Hauserman

Julie Hauserman has been writing about Florida for more than 30 years. She is a former Capitol bureau reporter for the St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) Times, and reported for The Stuart News and the Tallahassee Democrat. She was a national commentator for National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday and The Splendid Table . She has won many awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is featured in several Florida anthologies, including The Wild Heart of Florida , The Book of the Everglades , and Between Two Rivers . Her new book is Drawn to The Deep, a University Press of Florida biography of Florida cave diver and National Geographic explorer Wes Skiles.