CNN and other media outlets prevailed today in their quest for the list of felons Florida wants to purge from the voting rolls. The state will not appeal.

A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected felons to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.
The list is used to determine who will be eligible to vote in November's presidential election in the state.

....In 2000, a similar list was the center of controversy when state officials acknowledged after the election that it contained thousands of names in error, thus barring eligible people from voting. Many of the barred voters were African-Americans, who traditionally tend to vote Democratic. Bush won the state by a 537-vote margin and, with it, the presidency.

Background on the lawsuit is here. Florida needs to pass this constitutional amendment restoring the right to vote to Floridian felons who have completed their sentences. Approximately 600,000 Floridians are banned from voting due to felony convictions according to the Florida Equal Rights Voting Project.

[link via Memeorandum]