Afterward, the Rev. James Sampson, president of the Baptist Ministerial Conference in Duval, declared that "the spirit of George Wallace" is "alive and well."
Carlberg noted that the black leaders arrived unannounced with a contingent of reporters and refused his invitation to meet privately. "It should have been conducted in a nonmedia environment," he said in an interview. "Someplace where we could sit down and discuss the issues in a gentlemanly, civilized fashion."
In a follow-up letter to the ministers, Carlberg said that additional sites cannot be added this close to the election. The office does not have time to train staff or install equipment, he said.
But in Volusia County, which has been sued in federal court over the same issue by the NAACP, spokeswoman Deanie Lowe said the election office is looking into adding three sites.
Others complain that while election officials here have been slow to process new registrations and are doing little when it comes to early voting, they have been quick to send out letters informing felons that they have lost their right to vote.
Florida is one of seven states, including Virginia, that bar felons from voting if they fail to appeal. Studies show that the laws disproportionately disenfranchise black men.
Earlier this year, Hood's office developed a list to help supervisors purge felons from the rolls. A similar 2000 list disenfranchised eligible voters, and media organizations sued to make this year's list public. Local newspapers found that it included the names of 2,000 felons whose rights had been restored, many of them black, and did not identify ineligible Hispanics, who lean Republican.
Hood's office was forced to abandon the list, leaving each county to decide how to purge felons from the voting rolls. Carlberg's office purges an average of 140 felons a month.
Michael D. Frederick, 38, showed Hunter the letter he received from Carlberg's office after a felony battery conviction, along with his tattered voter registration card.
"They couldn't wait to send this to me," he said. "I voted every election -- city council, schools, didn't matter. I'm undereducated, and I'm black, but now this, this is my third strike. I kept it as a reminder that they finally took my voice away."
Staff writer Dan Keating in Washington contributed to this report.
