By: Sharon Aron Baron
Miami’s notorious former resident, murderer, and cookie thief, O.J. Simpson, serving 33 years in prison after being convicted in 2008 of armed robbery and kidnapping, is still eligible to vote in Miami-Dade.
Why is Simpson still a registered voter after serving five years behind bars? Florida law removes a person’s right to vote after being convicted of a felony.
Andrew Ladanowski, a Data Analyst and IT consultant who provided his expertise to the Tamarac committee to Recall Patte Atkins-Grad began checking to see if convicted felons properly had their voting rights removed, and O.J. Simpson was the first felon he could confirm that should not be on the list.
“I’m surprised that the entire country knows that O.J. is a felon except for the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections,” he said.
I asked the Miami-Dade Election office about the error, but they said they receive their information from the Division of Elections in Tallahassee. I then spoke with the Division of Elections, and they said it should have taken days to remove a convicted felon once the FDLE gave them information, not five years. My next step will be to file a complaint with the Division of Elections Legal Department.
If we don’t work fast enough, Simpson is going to request an absentee ballot from prison.
O.J. Simpson’s voting information from Miami-Dade County
UPDATE: from the HUFF POST — Brittany Lesser, the communications director for the Florida Department of State, said in a statement to HuffPost that Simpson’s name was never removed from voter rolls because of his 2008 conviction was out of state.
“The Department of State sends felon information to the Supervisors of Elections to have individuals removed from the voter rolls on a consistent basis. Supervisors can also remove a felon based on other credible and reliable sources at any time. Mr. Simpson’s name was not removed from the voter rolls because he was convicted in Nevada so his name was never sent to the Department of State for removal. We are working to improve how the voter rolls are updated in order to maintain the integrity of elections statewide.”
