Anthony Biggins didn’t wake up knowing he would get his voting rights restored.

But then the 56-year-old saw a TV news segment that said on Tuesday, for the first time, Floridians with felony convictions who had finished their sentences could register to vote.

Biggins, who has been in and out of the justice system since he was 19, didn’t hesitate, he said. He got in his car and drove downtown.

Jacksonville’s March 19 elections for mayor and sheriff will be the first time Biggins votes in his life, he said.

“That’s all I need?” he asked as he turned in his form at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections.

A clerk explained that he’d left blank which political party he wanted to join. He’d never had to think about choosing a political party before. “Well, which one would you choose?” he asked.

She told him she couldn’t answer that for him. “I guess I’ll go Democrat then,” he said.

She took the form. “We’ll send you something in the mail.”

“That’s fine by me.”

Elections Supervisor Mike Hogan said that by about 4:45 p.m., the downtown office had received 101 applications. But that number didn't include online registrations or people who submitted their forms at Jacksonville Public Libraries. The total number wasn't available Tuesday afternoon.

Bobbie Henry, a staffer in the office, has worked with people seeking to get their rights restored for about 19 years. Tuesday, she said, was an emotional day. “It’s a great feeling for productive citizens to get their rights back.”

Some people came in groups, like Lisa Banks, Dana Miller, Craig Aiken, Charles Tolbert and Loutricia Gibbs-Tolbert. They walked into the office together to register. Miller, after first trying and failing to get his rights restored by clemency for the 2008 election of Barack Obama, had actually finally gotten his rights restored in time for last November’s election. But he walked in with them.

Each of them had served years in prison or on probation for felony convictions, and each of them had been waiting for the day they could again vote.

Miller told them what it was like for him. He got a letter before the election letting him know he was registered. He said he didn’t believe it so he asked a friend to look online for him. He went to vote. He filled out his ballot, and as the machine accepted it as valid, he started to cry.

“Oh,” he said. “It’s a feeling.

“We no longer can be ignored.”

Keith Ivey, a 46-year-old who has seen his own child vote while he still was prohibited, came downtown with his registration form already filled out, but he was still anxious about what would happen next. Could the state muck up the process in red tape? he asked.

The Department of State has said it is accepting all applications from people who fill out their applications. After someone is registered, if the state finds out he or she isn't qualified to vote, then the state notifies the local supervisor. The local supervisor then notifies the voter so he or she can appeal the decision if it's mistaken. But in the meantime, a department spokeswoman said in an email, "the Department is pausing on our process of sending any valid felon match files to Supervisors of Election, which typically initiates the process for a Supervisor to remove the voter from the rolls. Under Florida law, only a Supervisor of Elections can remove a voter from the rolls."

Corri Moore, 42, was one of the first to line up downtown at 8 in the morning Tuesday. He dressed up for the occasion in a red sweater over a button-down shirt. He, too, talked about how he had wanted to vote in 2008 for Obama as the first African-American president. But an earlier felony conviction of driving with a suspended license prohibited him.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in the voting process,” he said. But “now the people making laws and writing laws are going to be listening to me.”

He said he hopes legislators know that his top priorities for them are focusing on re-entry services for people who have been incarcerated and sentencing reform. “People with molestation charges who have a lot of money get less time than someone caught driving with a suspended license. It’s time to level the playing field.”

Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310