Even convicted felons can run for office, as long as they felonize someplace other than the Sunshine State.
So found out Florida Today‘s Kimberly Moore when she ran a check on on Brevard County School Board candidate Steve Sherbin. See her story here.
Sherbin was convicted of felony possession of stolen goods back in 1986 in North Carolina, but his rights to vote and run for public office were restored after he did two years probation.
If he had committed the crime and done the time in Florida, he wouldn’t be on the ballot. Florida doesn’t give felons back their right to vote or to run for public office. About half a million people with felony convictions in Florida can’t vote. This includes people who committed the heinous crime of being caught with 20 grams, or less than an ounce, of marijuana.
We’ve been at Jimmy Buffett concerts where there was enough smoke in the air to disenfranchise a third of the population of West Palm Beach.
But, come to think of it, we did something like that in the last election with butterflies and chads and Supreme Court decisions.
It remains to be seen what will happen in an election where a quarter of the Florida ballots are purely digital and numerous computer specialists say the system can be compromised.