Letter to The Editor / THE RIGHT TO VOTE
By Roger C. Kostmayer
The most precious element of a democracy is the right of every citizen to have his or her voice heard through the vote. Exercising this Constitutional right should be as easy, wide spread and secure as possible. For the safety and stability of our republic, high turnout voting is necessary and when 43% of eligible voters fail to vote, as happened in the 2016 election, our nation is vulnerable. Your vote, and our elections, are under attack both from within, by politically motivated suppression, and from Russia.
Florida is a major contributor to this problem because it has a lifetime voting ban for anyone convicted of a felony – even if they paid their debt to society, rehabilitated their lives and are productive members of their communities. This is not a minor injustice. One in ten Floridians, 1.6 million citizens and 25% of the total national number, are denied their civil rights under this ban.
The solution is to amend the state constitution, which requires citizen signatures by December 31 to put the Voter Restoration Amendment on next year’s ballot. The amendment returns the vote to those who have been disenfranchised, except for those convicted of murder or sexual offense felonies.
If the Restoration Amendment sounds fair, reasonable and good for our democracy: contact Floridians for a Fair Democracy or the ACLU , sign the petition and return it before December 31. Then, make sure you exercise your vote for the amendment next November.
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]
Roger is obviously complicit with the DNC rigging of elections as he neglects to mention the level of election rigging by the American left. Since he isn’t complaining about those proven incidents of shady DNC practices, his laments about jailbirds having their constitutional rights infringed upon ring hollow~!
I have a hard believing the writer\’s assertion 10% of Floridians are convicted Felons. When writers make such ridiculous assertions you have to question their entire proposition. get your facts right next time Roger