Florida Central Voter File - Appeals

Appeals

In time, an appeals process was instituted, but in some cases it required ordinary citizens to be fingerprinted in order to prove they were not the felons they were accused of being. In the end, out of 4,847 people who appealed, 2,430 were judged not to be convicted felons. As Civil Rights Commission attorney Bernard Quarterman put it during testimony in Miami on February 16, "They were guilty until proven innocent". At least 108 legitimate voters were not purged from the list until after the election.

Some voters on the list did not receive advance notice that they were ineligible to vote until they appeared at the polls. Some had even received new voters cards in the mail.

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Famous quotes containing the word appeals:

    It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.
    Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)

    No rules exist, and examples are simply life-savers answering the appeals of rules making vain attempts to exist.
    André Breton (1896–1966)

    We tried pathetic appeals to the wandering waiters, who told us “they are coming, Sir” in a soothing tone—and we tried stern remonstrance, & they then said “they are coming, Sir” in a more injured tone; & after all such appeals they retired into their dens, and hid themselves behind sideboards and dish-covers, still the chops came not. We agreed that of all virtues a waiter can display, that of a retiring disposition is quite the least desirable.
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)