Florida Registration drive aims at pretrial detainees
/In the race to find new voters before Monday's
national voter registration deadline, community groups and law
enforcement officials in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties
have reached out to pretrial detainees like Durden, who awaits trial on
felony charges of armed carjacking and robbery. "My brother's friend
carjacked someone in front of my house," said Durden, who was arrested
in 2002. "I had just come back from shooting pool with friends when my
brother and his friend went outside. I followed them outside and
watched." She denied any involvement in the crimes. With less than a
month before the presidential election, organizations conducting voter
registration drives are looking for available pools of eligible voters.
Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, a criminal
justice advocacy group, said many can be found among the estimated 5
million pretrial detainees nationwide. That makes the 31,591 people
awaiting trial in Florida an attractive pool, because those who are not
convicted felons are eligible to vote under state law. [more 
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