House and Senate members address issues at Polk town hall

HAINES CITY — A crowded City Hall was given some insight from three members of Congress on Thursday night, particularly on an upcoming ballot amendment.

Amendment 4 on November’s ballot would restore voting rights for felons once sentencing ends. To become law, it would need to pass with 60 percent of the vote in November.

“This is a lot of people,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, said. “This is upward of 1.7 million people in the state who do not have the right to vote.”

The late-arriving Nelson was joined by a pair of U.S. Representatives, Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, and Rep. Cedric Richmond, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Also on the panel were Cynthia Downing, president of the Haines City branch of the NAACP and David Ayala, a community organizer for Latino Justice.

“As the NAACP runs into voters across the state, we give them information on how to have their rights restored,” Downing said. “When we meet with them, they’re very disenchanted.”

The lawmakers said that previous Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, then a Republican, supported the measure. Current Republican Gov. Rick Scott, they said, has not been supportive of the issue. Scott’s administration has appealed a ruling handed down from U.S. Judge Mark Walker that ruled in favor of the Fair Elections Legal Network.

“The intent is that someone becomes a productive member of society again,” Nelson said. “Judge Walker gave a scathing 50-page report on how this was unconstitutional. Voting yes on Amendment 4 will settle this once and for all.”

Convicted murderers and sex offenders would still be excluded from a vote if the amendment passes. Richmond doubled down on the importance of voting.

“What makes our democracy so great is that people have a voice in their government,” he said. “If we think about our formerly incarcerated families, friends and strangers, they’re excluded from that process.”

Ayala said his wife previously ran for state attorney in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. He was able to campaign for her, going door-to-door, he said, but on Election Day, he could not vote.

“This is important to me,” he said. “It’s been 11 years since I completed my sentence. I’ve maintained employment, I’ve paid my taxes and obeyed Florida’s laws. Yet, I can’t vote for the people who create these laws.”

Ayala cited a joint poll put together by North Star Opinion Research and EMC Research released Wednesday that showed 74 percent of Floridians supporting the measure. That included 88 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans.

“We have to keep that momentum going,” Ayala said. “This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue. When 10 percent of the state’s population is disenfranchised, this is a people issue.”

Nelson noted that the amendment affected not just those who have done prison time. Of the 170,000 people convicted of felonies each year in Florida, Nelson said, only about 27,000 go to prison. The current law, he said, affected predominantly minorities.

“There are a lot of convicted felons out in the community, working, trying to find employment,” Nelson said. “If you look at our state prison system, about 47 percent are African American.”

Soto added that the majority of Florida’s population was comprised of minorities. Florida is one of only four states where voting rights are not restored after a sentence is complete.

“If you don’t give a person a chance for a meaningful way of life, it pushes them back into a life of crime,” Richmond said. “You have to give them a stake in their future.”

CENSUS ISSUE

Another issue that was talked about extensively Thursday night was a proposal from President Donald Trump to add immigration status to the 2020 U.S. Census. Soto said that’s a measure that hasn’t been done since 1950.

“This is a critical issue,” Soto said. “We could lose resources, we could lose representation. We could lose our voices if this happens.”

Richmond said if people are afraid to be counted in the census, communities could struggle to get the federal resources they need.

“If a community has 30,000 people, but it says there are 20,000, according to the Census, your schools will be underfunded,” Richmond said. “Your roads will be inadequate.”

Soto reiterated that basic government services will be used whether people are documented or not.

“People use roads regardless of citizenship,” Soto said. “Some people were late tonight because of the traffic. If those people aren’t counted, it would get so much worse.”

Mike Ferguson can be reached at Mike.Ferguson@theledger.com or 863-401-6981. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the elected office sought by David Ayala's wife. This story has been corrected.