Scott, Cabinet delay dozens of voting rights cases after legal setback

TALLAHASSEE -- Barbara Gaines' son got a pardon from Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet, and she got Scott's autograph, too.

The Orlando woman and her son were among the lucky ones Thursday.

Dozens of other people who lost the right to vote from long-ago felony convictions remain in limbo because a federal judge has struck down Florida's civil rights restoration process as unconstitutional.

After waiting for years for their petitions to be considered, they traveled to Tallahassee to seek mercy from Scott and the three Cabinet members who meet quarterly as the board of clemency. But with the restoration process discredited by the courts, the cases weren't considered.

Scott and the Cabinet members decided several cases that will allow people to carry guns, but they postponed voting rights cases.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee ruled last month that the Florida rights restoration system is unconstitutional.

Scott and the Cabinet members, all of whom are Republicans, defended the system, which requires felons to wait at least five years before seeking the restoration of their rights.

Scott and the Cabinet adopted the current system in 2011. They will appeal Walker's ruling.

Gaines, who works for an Orlando law firm, was very thankful that her son, Dennis Hill, 39, of Groveland, received a full pardon for a drug conspiracy conviction more than two decades ago when he was a teenager.

Petitions for pardons are distinct from the civil rights restoration process, so they were taken up at Thursday's meeting.