Demonstrators urge voting rights for ex-cons

Demonstrators urge voting rights for ex-cons

By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

Last update: October 13, 2004


DELAND -- For 19-year-old Robert Keys, the matter that landed him outside the Volusia County Courthouse on Tuesday was dead serious.
It had to do with some arrests -- but not his.

Neither Keys' father nor his uncle can vote in November because Florida law does not automatically restore convicted felons' civil rights.

'Get hyped. Let's go,' he shouted, as he thrust a protest sign skyward. Like about 40 others who showed up for an ACLU-backed demonstration against the law, he thinks the state needs a change.

'I'm just out here trying to demand our rights back because a lot of black people couldn't vote because they're ex-felons,' Keys said.

A well-known local former convict, 63-year-old George Crossley of Deltona, set up Tuesday's event for the Volusia/Flagler Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Similar rallies were held in other cities, including Orlando and Jacksonville, earlier in the fall. On Tuesday, a group of students, including Keys, from Bethune-Cookman College's Young Democrats' Club joined ACLU demonstrators.

In 1997, Crossley, a former televangelist, was convicted of trying to solicit the murder of his mistress' ex-husband. He served 2 1/2 years in prison.
With three months of probation to go, he can't yet apply for restoration of his voting rights because under Florida law, convicted felons can't have their civil rights restored until all state sentencing requirements are completed -- and then it's not guaranteed.

The ACLU says Florida is one of seven states that potentially disenfranchises former felons for life.

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