Florida state senator Mandy Dawson is asking again for a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to Florida's felons who have completed their sentences:

With state and national Democratic leaders concerned about a new purge of felons from voter rolls, state Sen. Mandy Dawson wants the party to support a constitutional amendment that would restore felons' rights -- including the right to vote -- once they have completed their prison sentences.

The issue is clouded by race because of the disproportionate number of blacks in the state who have felony records and are unable to cast ballots. Democrats are concerned that blacks, long loyal voters for their candidates, will refrain from voting this year, fearing a repeat of the 2000 presidential election. Thousands of eligible voters were turned away from polls that year because they had mistakenly been purged from the voting lists as felons. Many of them, in fact, had no criminal records.

This is the fifth year Sen. Dawson has sought such an amendment. It's not likely to happen this year. Jeb Bush opposes it. But it should. Here are the numbers.