Civil rights lawyer Reggie Mitchell is a man on a mission. Mitchell is the leader of a group of activists who are trying to register thousands of eligible felons.
Although the presidential campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have created major registration efforts, neither has designated anyone to go after former offenders who have been unfairly disenfranchised for decades.
Mitchell, an Obama supporter, has created an “Ex-Felon Targets” database to search for potential voters and calls getting voter-registration cards to them a “passionate hobby”.
He said:
“It kind of offended my notion of justice. You can serve your time and still have your rights taken away. I studied the history of black disenfranchisement in the state. We had the grandfather laws and the tissue-paper ballots. When a black man came to vote, they gave him a tissue-paper ballot that was later thrown out. There were lynchings and riots. We’ve got a long history of depriving people of the right to vote in Florida.”
Mitchell left a personal-injury practice in 2004 and became Florida’s legal director for the nonprofit People for the American Way Foundation. Leading the liberal advocacy group’s state voting rights project, he worked to have the law changed that prohibited ex-offenders from voting. Mitchell also oversaw the project that helped build the foundation’s Restore My Vote site.
1 comment:
Well amen for Mr. Mitchell! Obama will need all the help he can get.
Post a Comment