Is the government of Florida no longer held accountable to the citizens of our state?
ClickOrlando.com is staying on top of the story concerning the three individuals in Orlando who were arrested for voter fraud because they voted in the 2020 election – the same three individuals who applied for voter’s registration and were given a voter’s registration card, i.e., they were registered.
WHY WERE THESE PEOPLE GIVEN A VOTER’S REGISTRATION CARD IF THEY WERE INELIGIBLE TO VOTE?
If I had received a voter’s registration card, I would have thought the same thing as I have always trusted our state government, but not anymore.
The Orange County Supervisor of Elections says he depends on the information from the state. The problem is, though, the state did not send the much-needed information until December of 2020, a month after the election.
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles told ClickOrlando that it is hard for these people to find a database that can answer their questions about whether their voting rights have been restored. Apparently, it is difficult for the state, too.
Soon after the arrests, Governor DeSantis held a news conference touting the success of the newly-formed election police unit, saying that those arrested are going to “pay the price for what they did.” What did they actually do that would be considered criminal by Florida citizens?
In the governor’s announcement of the arrests, he failed to mention that the people arrested thought they were eligible to vote. Why would he fail to mention such an important detail?
Leadership in Florida has said that they are not responsible for what happened, meaning they are not to be held accountable for their actions; only Florida citizens are to be held accountable.
One’s constitutional right to vote should never be revoked regardless of conviction status. Are felons not citizens, too?
I agree cus in Cali you can even Vote in jail and in many states your Voter Rights stay intact.
After what they did to me and they know illegally done to me in 2011 and i know they did it cause the head public defender of the county told me its a conflict of interest to fix the wrong they done. I don’t trust them one bit,the governor himself could have handed me the card and I still wouldn’t have voted. It’s all about trapping people and them making more money. It’s no longer about safety but making as much money as they can. Hence all the crazy new laws, the new DL we gotta buy with the scarlet letter. Plus the law that states felons can’t file lawsuits against Florida it allows them to do anything and everything they want
[moderator’s note: FAC members are sponsoring multiple live lawsuits by convicted felons against the State of Florida].
I was referring to things like wrongful arrests, harassment and such.
I wrote to the author of the story, investigative reporter Louis Bolden via email. Here is what I wrote:
Hello Mr. Bolden.
Concerning the alleged voter fraud by ex-felons, I believe that the most pertinent question to ask is, “Why should we have an exception to restoration of voting rights for ex murderers or ex sex offenders in the first place?”
If we take a few moments to think dispassionately (logically) about it, what real reasons are there? Are we afraid that murderers will cast their votes to legalize poisons or knives or guns? Are we afraid that sex offenders will vote to try to legalize child porn or easy access to school bus stops? Are these ex-offenders less politically aware? Do they watch the news less often or read fewer political journals than other types of ex-criminals?
These ideas are obviously ludicrous!
So what are the real reasons for the carve outs? Hatred? Revenge? An added punishment? Public shunning?
Is this right and proper to single out 2 quite disparate classes of ex-felons for a carveout that makes no sense from a practical (or logical) standpoint? Why didn’t we carve out arsonists? Or carjackers? Or home-invasion burglars? These crimes are quite heinous and often victimize people in very serious ways!
I think the question that we should all be asking is WHY THE CARVEOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Very Respectfully,
This outstanding letter from JJJJ should also go to the editor, I think.
Well done!
Bravo!
Excellent. Thank you.
Some good points, JJJJ.
This is why I will never VOTE for Desataninist EVER! he’s done some good but to make it hard for certain people to get their Voting Rights back is a nasty Azzz move on his part, and I suspect the people who are his Puppet masters is making him do this.
Would love to know why DeSantis did not make a big hoopla about real fraud and not confused voters…could it be they voted Republican? Of course not…: “3 Trump supporters in Florida held on vote fraud
December 14, 2021 at 6:26 p.m. EST Three Central Florida residents who have expressed support for former president Donald Trump were recently arrested following reports that they cast more than one vote during the 2020 election, according to various Florida news media outlets.
Jay Ketcik, John Rider and Joan Halstead, who all live in The Villages in Sumter County, Fla., face felony charges and up to five years in prison for allegedly casting more than one ballot in the most recent presidential contest, according to county arrest records.
The three were jailed after Sumter County Supervisor of Elections Bill Keen launched a probe of allegations of voting irregularities, according to prosecutors. Keen is not commenting on the cases, given the ongoing criminal investigation.
It remains unknown who the voters backed in 2020. Ketcik, 63, and Halstead, 71, are both registered Republicans. While Rider, 61, is not affiliated with a political party, there are pro-Trump posts on his Facebook page”.
The government always figures, they aren’t able to be held accountable for many things. This state is by far one of the worst offender’s. The current governor is by far, just as big of a [moderated] as Rick Scott was, if not worse. Government officials, will always see how far they can push the envelope, before public outcry is at hand. It’s in their nature to do so, and always will be. The world is slowly moving to utter destruction at the hand’s of these people, and they seem perfectly fine with it. Utter chaos will happen someday, but I may not be around when it comes.
Has DeSantis ALWAYS been the governor of FL? No. Has FL ALWAYS been a state of lifetime registration and no felons allowed to vote? Yes. So why is everyone putting the full bulk of the blame on DeSantis? Just curious.
One man alone can not pass legislation. I blame him and all the legislators that are fighting against restoring felon rights even though the people of Florida voted for it, and for being selective on who they go after on voting violations. Further, If you follow politics it is clear he has the ambition to run for President, and the belief that the vote was stolen is high among his voters, regardless that it has been proven to not be true.
[moderated]
And so all his vote fraud focus is just to get votes. There is no major issue with vote irregularities. It is a waste of our tax dollars to focus on this non-issue when there are so many other pressing issues in our state.
It’s really comical how this governor will condemn someone who thought they had their voting rights reinstated. Yet, will stand behind someone who knowingly scammed and committed fraud against contractors and other business associations. It’s crazy and a complete double standard and discrimination.
[MODERATED: Removed partisan aspects because it added no value to the point of your message. Stay neutral, or, if it is absolutely crucial to your point(s) to identify parties, back it up with specific reasons it was included along with supporting evidence.]
[The governor] set those people up to be arrested to gain Clout in his continued run as a Public Figure. There is no way in 2023 that they didn’t know these people couldn’t VOTE prior to allowing them to do so. This GOVERNOR set that all in motion and used innocent people to make himself look good. And as you can see ALL of them were POOR PEOPLE of course who couldn’t HIRE a paid lawyer to fight for them. I believe in Karma and his is coming.
[moderated]
There’s plenty of wealthy people with crimes on their record. [moderated].
Just do a simple google search. There’s legit articles all over the place.
I won’t be posting comments anymore or discussing anything on here. It’s bad enough that my own government silences me to just turn around and have FAC silence me on here because of my political opinions. I didn’t say anything out of the way, except for the governor’s double standards. Greatly appreciate you silencing me FAC. You guys can keep that.
As someone who has been subject to that in past, I hear you! Politics matter as who we elect has ramifications for our issues. Try posting in the “Off Topic” green button on the main page and see if that does not get censored.
Looks like you’re not being silenced, after all.
We will harm our own movement by dividing ourselves along political party lines. What good does that do? As a movement, we would do far better to stay united instead of bickering over political parties.
Neither party has done a particularly good job of helping to right the wrong that is the registry. If either party stood up against this injustice, it would be clear as day. Nobody is.
Our best approach to this fight is that the registry is not a partisan issue and has so many drawbacks that it should be naturally opposed by both parties. It’s unconstitutional (violates just about every enumerated right), reinforces the prison-industrial complex, increases gov’t spending, decreases public safety, harms children and families, necessitates bigger gov’t with greater authority over “free” citizens than any other scheme, and so on. Know your audience, and approach them with the issues that appeal most to their views.
Read the comment policy, which is clear as day above the box I’m typing into right now. Maybe inflammatory partisan comments should be allowed. What does this site become in terms of discourse over our issues becomes consumed by partisan bickering?
We have more than one moderator. I moderated your comment below, and assume that’s what you’re referring to.
When I see divisive comments, I look for ways to retain the message without the divisiveness. Identifying the party of the governor added no value to the discussion. It could alienate or irritate others, detracting from what could be a productive, civil discussion.
Not all moderators will see it the same way, and even in my own moderation there is a lot of gray area which can be draining to consider in depth for every single comment. Sometimes we just have to make snap judgement and move on. I am often in a rush because there’s more to be done than we have the help for. It’s not possible for moderation to be perfectly consistent under these circumstances.
FAC is trying to provide many services (legislative, lawsuits, website, outreach, meet and greets, membership and a sense of community, and on and on), free of charge and powered by others giving up their time to make your life better. This is done for our entire community, including you, as well as for the public good, for the advancement of issues that should matter to all of us.
My hope is that by taking the time to address your concern, you will feel respected, see that moderation is not personal, and come to understand that perfection is a big ask from the moderation team and FAC, which is powered purely by volunteers and donations. I hope you and anyone else who feels censored will remind themselves, and others, of the reality that includes everything I’ve mentioned here. I hope everyone reading this will continue to participate and do something to move our shared causes forward.
The last time I checked on it I was still a citizen of the United States of America. Florida should not have the authority to stop me or anyone else from
voting in our National Elections.
If they want to stop me from voting in their local elections so be it.
@Jerry
Read the entire Richardson v Ramirez page to understand more, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson_v._Ramirez,; However, I am going to hazard a guess that they would put a sex crime under the “other or infamous crimes” heading (see down the page) to give justification for the disenfranchisement given not all are felonies. I don’t think that is right, but even prior to 1868 when the 14th Amendment, section 2, was adopted, blocking voters was common in this country as a punishment.
While being punished for a sex crime justifies disenfranchising, being on the registry is not supposed to justify disenfranchisement given the registry is not punishment as the high court opined. It would seem to me once the actual crime punishment is over, so should the disenfranchisement regardless of the registry.
I would also say there is truly no national election you can be blocked from participating in. All elections are local to the state level or lower. The electors within the electoral college (EC) for P & VP are supposed to represent the state as the state decides (i.e., wholly or split) with their delegate votes in a national position’s contest when all state’s votes are cobbled together. Therefore, as we have seen in our nation’s history, there can be a popular vote winner and an EC winner. If it was a truly national election, the popular vote winner would win all the time, which they don’t and is why we have a EC (which debating the merit of is another topic for another forum).
Hey whats happening to all these comments. Seems one is on the subject of rights to vote now. Whether one has the right or not or whether one votes or not or is independent that should not be the question.
If one votes than good. Seems there is other fish to fry even about getting much of this registry changed.
Many of you all talk about this Smith vs Doe and don’t seem to look at this deception or entrapment or the Frazier vs Cupp in 1969 when the Supreme ruled that they can use deception. Now who’s deceiving who in this ” Because we can”
Seems government is abusing the true Authority. I know is makes everyone “proud” when they come up with all the answers but the truth is deception is deception and a false balance is no good. Seems governments have their faults. So don’t jump on F.A.C.