TALLAHASSEE - Florida's error-prone list of 47,763 suspected felons who could be tossed from voter rolls before November's presidential election contains nearly three times as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Almost half are racial minorities. Although activists have speculated for months that most of the voters on the controversial list are likely Democrats, precise numbers were difficult to calculate because state law forbade releasing copies to the public.
That law, however, was overturned Thursday by a Leon County judge at the request of CNN and several other news organizations, including The Tampa Tribune.
Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark said in her ruling that the Florida Constitution ``grants every person the fundamental right to inspect or copy public records.'' Further, the state had previously allowed the public and news media to inspect the list and not make copies, but Clark cited previous state court rulings that said the public's access was ``valueless without the right to make copies.''
News organizations, advocacy groups and others argued that public release of the list would enable greater scrutiny so that mistakes could be identified and fixed before eligible voters are wrongly turned away at the polls, as they were in the 2000 presidential election. Already, several mistakes have been discovered statewide.
The state Elections Division provided copies of the list for the first time Thursday evening in response to Clark's ruling. The agency had argued it simply was following state law created by the Legislature and approved by Gov. Jeb Bush, citing the need for privacy.
Calls to Bush's office weren't returned Thursday. It was unclear whether the state intends to appeal the decision, which could also open public access to the full database of voter names, party affiliations and other information, because it was protected in the same statute that prevented access to the list of felons.
Among racial groups, the largest reported group was non-Hispanic whites with 24,197, followed by 22,084 non-Hispanic blacks, 1,384 unknowns, 61 Hispanics, 14 Asian or Pacific-Islanders, 12 American Indians and 11 others. The list consisted of 37,777 men and 9,986 women.
Mistakenly purging eligible voters from the rolls was among the state's biggest stumbles in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, which decided the presidency by 537 votes.
The list included voters who had never been convicted of crimes, some whose rights had been restored by other states and others whose names matched those of felons. Nobody knows how many valid voters were disenfranchised.
In response to those errors, the state asked the counties to verify the list in advance of elections and, if they could not, to remove questionable voters from the rolls. Florida is one of just seven states where felons must petition to regain voting rights after serving their time.
Counties must issue letters to voters who could be declared ineligible. Only those who can prove they're eligible to vote will be left on the rolls.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood said in a statement announcing the release of the information that it contains potential matches and is not a final list.
Some, including Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning, said it's possible that the process will prove lengthy and that no voters will be removed in their county before Nov. 2.
Felons, meanwhile, continue to be purged from voter rolls - sometimes improperly - because processes exist separate from the statewide list of potential felons.
As a result of records that were provided directly by the courts, Daren Jones, 30, a salesman from Miami, saw his voting rights improperly taken away last month.
He won restoration of his civil rights in 2003 after a drug conviction but last month received a letter from the Miami- Dade elections supervisor informing him he was being yanked from the voter rolls.
He took his case to talk radio, and after showing elections officials his clemency paperwork, was reinstated.
``I'm fortunate because mine was caught early,'' Jones said in an interview from Miami.
Reporter William March contributed to this report by Reporter Garrett Therolf



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