OTHER THAN THE WHOLE MENS REA DEAL:

When Romona Oliver registered to vote in early 2020 at the Hillsborough Tax Collector's office, she was asked if she had a felony conviction. She said yes.

The women helping her with the form submitted it, Oliver said. She said she was never asked specifically if her right to vote had been restored.

Oliver, a Tampa resident, had recently been released from a women's prison in Florida after serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder.

In the last few months of her time in prison, Oliver said she'd read about Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment approved by about 65% of Floridians in 2018, which restored the voting rights of most felons who had completed all terms of their sentence.

No one told her she didn't qualify under Amendment 4; the law doesn't apply to those with sex offenses or murder charges. She registered as a Democrat and got her voter card in the mail. [...]

Oliver, like four others arrested, is from Hillsborough County and was removed from the voter rolls in the spring.

The Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office was notified by the state in late 2021 and early 2022 that the voters had felony convictions and their rights were not restored, spokesperson Gerri Kramer said. Such notifications are part of a regular process, she said.

Kramer said the county elections office makes sure registration forms are filled out correctly, and then submits them to the state for review.

"It's not our role to verify the information," she said.

A few weeks ago, Oliver said she found a Florida Department of Law Enforcement business card in her door frame. She called and was told officers had found something fraudulent on her account.

She thought they meant her bank account. When the officers came to her job and asked if she had voted in 2020, she said yes. Oliver still didn't understand what was wrong when the police came to her door Thursday morning and put her in cuffs.

"I ain't done nothing but go to work and come home," she said.

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