TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott has called an extraordinary late-night meeting of top state officials to respond to a federal court ruling on voting rights.
A federal judge gave Florida until Thursday to create a new process for restoring voting rights to former prisoners. The state asked an appeals court to put U.S. District Judge Mark Walker's ruling on hold, but the higher court hasn't acted on that request, so Scott scheduled a clemency board meeting for 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The board consists of Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and two other elected Republicans.
The federal judge ruled that Florida's current system of restoring voting rights to former prisoners is unconstitutional and arbitrary. He questioned whether partisan politics and racial factors have swayed the board's decisions.
