Confusion clouds restoration of Florida felons’ voting rights

a mixture of intentional obstruction and partisan bullshit by republicans, bad instruction by the state, awful bureaucracy on several levels, and just an overall lack of clarity as to how to handle what voters want is probably going to lead to a pretty disastrous roll-out of florida's amendment which restores the right of felons in the state to vote. here are just a few hitches with how the roll-out is going and will likely continue to go:

Counties wanted clear direction from the state. But the state's position is that the Legislature should have a voice — the same Legislature that for decades refused to address the issue of felons' voting rights, which prompted advocates to collect enough voters' signatures to force a statewide referendum, bypassing the Legislature.
The legislative session begins March 5 and is scheduled to end May 3. In a further complication, a new governor and Secretary of State will take office in January.
Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the new chairman of the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee, said the restoration of voting rights "may or may not" need legislative action.

needless to say, not very optimistic about how this is going to go, especially given the fact that florida republicans will continue to run the state at every level and don't really have a vested interest in seeing this through. guess we'll find out, but this has all the makings of a clusterfuck.