Reply #9: Let's take.. for example..

[kdmorris]

That your name is Steven F. Jones, born on 11/20/1956 (the year is the important part) and you're a black man. You've never done anything in your life wrong. You go to work, you come home, you watch TV, you love your wife and kids, and dog. You're the average hard-working American.

Now, let's say that there's a man on the "felony list". His name is Steven R. Jones, also black and he was also born in 1956 (in Florida in 2000, they didn't even BOTHER to look at the year of birth. I'm being really generous making the year part of the criteria). He's a bad mofo. He started stealing cars when he was 14 and has a rap sheet a mile long. He never votes. He's not even registered to vote because he was told he couldn't because he'd been convicted of a felony.

So, here's how this works. You take EVERY person on the voter registration rolls that has been convicted of a felony. Steven F. Jones is not on that list. Steven R. Jones is so they figure it's the same person.

Here's the real kicker. Steven F. Jones has NO IDEA that he's been thrown off the list until he goes to vote. And there's no remedy once you get to the voting booth. You can fill out a provisional ballot, but once they will likely not count it because it appears that you've been legitimately thrown off the voter registration rolls. There's no communication between the state and the local polling places.

So, Steven F. Jones doesn't get to vote for his favorite candidate. He doesn't get to vote at all.

I would say no one could purge you because your name isn't very similar to a felon's and/or you are white. 80% of the people that were thrown off the list in 2000 were African American and Latino, the population that was most likely to vote for Gore.