LDF Assistant Counsel @Jennyhooo has begun taking Ms. Marsha Ellison's testimony. Ms. Ellison has lived in FL for over 35 years, is the elected treasurer of the @FLNAACP, and sits on @NAACP committees.
Ms. Ellison described the Rick Scott administration's #voting rights restoration process as wrought with barriers and "one that went back to the old rules of voter disenfranchisement."
Returning citizens "talk of their struggles of finding housing, of finding employment, of struggling to live.... We knew this [SB 7066] would disenfranchise them for life."
-MS. Ellison, (@FLNAACP, @NAACP )
"When you are faced with paying for the basic necessities of life or paying fines & fees that could make you go hungry or not have a place to live, you'll choose to pay for the basic necessities."
-Ms. Ellison, (@FLNAACP, @NAACP)
Ms. Ellison describes the fear that SB 7066 has caused when registering voters. Rather than placing a returning citizen at-risk of going back to prison she has had to register fewer voters.
Mr. Bryant makes a $30 monthly payment for court costs to a collection agency just to keep his drivers license. He has never missed a payment, but if he were to he would lose his drivers license and have to pay the full amount to restore it.
Mr. Bryant: "I registered because I feel it’s my time to vote. I have a little boy who never knew the past that I lived. I'm only here to show him the good...I want him to see his dad has come a long way."
"I’ve become a regular person. I’ve left all my foolishness behind me, it’s time for me to be heard. It’s time for people to see the change in me. It’s time to see that people can be changed...I believe I have accomplished that."
It would take most people decades post-release to fully pay off LFOs. Mr. Bryant's examination by @johnscusick made it abundantly clear that SB 7066 serves as addt'l punishment for crimes long after they've been rectified.
According to Dr. Kousser's analysis the FL legislature was "very well aware that trying to find out the all of the LFOs of returning citizens was a bureaucratic nightmare."
"Most voters would not have seen that legal wording in the text..the ballot summary talked about completion of the sentence, no comma, including parole & probation. It did not explicitly talk about any LFOs..It’s important to see exactly what was presented to the voters."-Kousser
Dr. Kousser researched news articles related to the search term ‘felon voting’ to discover what definition for ’whole sentence' would have been available to FL voters.
Out of 55 articles, 2 referenced payments of LFOs within that definition.
"I counted as explicit references to 'prison,' articles that contained the phrase 'served their time' because clearly 'served their time' does not refer to completing your LFOs...but I think 'served their time' to the vast majority of people who refer to prison." - Kousser
"Someone reading that article would not have had a thought to whether LFOs were required as a result of #Amendment4… Because it was left open. It did not support the proposition that the State had no discretion & had to pass #SB7066." - Dr. Kousser
"I thought that the evidence was ambiguous as to what voters intended & what was presented to the voters on #Amendment4.
I thought [the FL legislature] had discretion as to whether or not they would pass an implementation bill and if they did what it would contain." -Dr. Kousser
"The legislature had discretion & knew at the beginning of the legislative session that it did.
[The memo] on #Amendment4 asked, “when should rights be restored--at the end of the sentence after a prison term or after restitution has been paid?” - Dr. Kousser
According to Dr. Kousser, the high number of proposed amendments undercuts the notion that the Legislature itself was completely sure about the meaning of the provisions within #Amendment4.
"The people who opposed the bill [SB 7066] thought that these were not very efficacious procedures--that they would not lead to very many more people being eligible to vote." - Dr. Kousser
What did the felony disenfranchisement numbers look like prior to #Amendment4?
Kousser:"Approx. 20-25% of African-Americans in FL were disenfranchised because of felony convictions & approx. 10% of all Floridians were disenfranchised due to felony convictions."
Dr. Kousser: "Rep. Grant was explicitly told the racially discriminatory impact of a bill that would make it difficult for returning citizens to vote. He said explicitly that he did not want to know the impact of the bill."
May 17, 1954, the day the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education was issued, marks a defining moment in the history of the United States. The Supreme Court declared the doctrine of “separate but equal” unconstitutional.
To litigate Brown vs. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall recruited the nation’s best attorneys. LDF lawyers were assisted by a brain trust of legal scholars, historians, and social science researchers. More about the legal minds behind the case: naacpldf.org/brown-vs-board…
The legal victory in Brown v. Board of Education did not transform the country overnight, and much work remains. However, striking down segregation in U.S. public schools provided a major catalyst for the civil rights movement. Its impact has been felt by every American.
In 1961, John Lewis joined the Freedom Riders, a group traveling by bus to ensure that the Supreme Court decision banning discrimination in transportation services was upheld. They were repeatedly physically attacked and imprisoned, but they remained steadfast in their objective.
LDF directly represented Mr. Lewis and other activists in numerous civil rights matters. LDF founder Thurgood Marshall was on the Lewis v. Greyhound legal team, which involved a violent attack on the Freedom Riders at the Montgomery, AL, bus terminal. naacpldf.org/naacp-publicat…
In 1963, Mr. Lewis became the national chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington and, at the age of 23, was the youngest individual to make remarks at the event.
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the March on Washington to call for an end to segregation, economic justice, and access to the ballot. Today, the fight for voting rights is just as urgent. naacpldf.org/march-on-washi…
As buses pulled into D.C. and hundreds arrived via trains onto the National Mall for the March on Washington, the gravity of the moment was clear. 250,000 people marched — the unprecedented turnout was a testament to the power of grassroots organizing. naacpldf.org/march-on-washi…
When MLK gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, the passage of the Voting Rights Act was still two years away. Echoing his earlier calls to give us the ballot, he said “We cannot be satisfied” until we have the right to vote and a voice in our democracy.
TONIGHT at 9:00PM EST: @Sifill_LDF joins @Maddow live to discuss her decision to step down as LDF President and Director-Counsel.
"I’ve worked very hard to make LDF strong and to help Americans see that civil rights institutions and civil rights work is critical—not just for the citizenship and dignity of Black people, but for the health of American democracy." @Sifill_LDF
“2024 is coming very quickly and I want to make sure the next leader [of LDF] is fully in place and prepared for that. The next chapter for me…will always involve this work that I have committed my life to.” -@Sifill_LDF
Starting now! @Sifill_LDF joins @allinwithchris on @MSNBC to discuss the Freedom to Vote Act. The bill aimed at strengthening voting rights and overhauling the nation's election systems failed to advance in the Senate today.
"The reality of what we are dealing with is no different than the reality of what Black voters were dealing with in 1964. Voter suppression was being perpetuated and advanced to keep fellow citizens from being able to vote...and that is what is happening today." -@Sifill_LDF
"When we see a vote like this today—not a vote against a bill, but a vote against talking about a bill—in what is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world, the United States Senate, then we know our democracy has lost its way." -@Sifill_LDF
.@SIfill_LDF joins @maddow to discuss the anniversary of #GeorgeFloyd's death and today's confirmation of Kristen Clarke. Tune in tonight at 9:35 ET on @MSNBC
We are not out of the woods yet, but there have been important shifts that have happened.
“One of the most important is in the narrative of the nature of policing. We are now not just talking about individuals, we are talking about reimagining public safety.” —@Sifill_LDF
There has been a policy shift. There are multiple states that have passed laws requiring more transparency and police accountability.
“We don’t want to forget these changes are happening—because we saw the largest mass protest ever in the United States last summer.”@Sifill_LDF