Opponents of proposed voting changes rally at Capitol

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

While lawmakers in the Florida legislature continue pushing to change voting laws that opponents say are intended to deter Blacks from the poll, speakers at a rally said what’s being proposed isn’t unfamiliar.

Without being specific, several Democratic speakers referenced the struggles that Blacks endured before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. That law has been gutted by the Supreme Court and since the 2020 election, several states have been instituting tighter voting requirements.

Mutaqee Akbar, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, encouraged the crowd that showed up at the Capitol to push back. Similar sentiments were expressed by every speaker at the event that was organized by the NAACP.

“What you heard today was to energize you because we need to move forward,” Akbar said. “This is not going to stop with this rally. It’s not going to stop at the steps of the Old Capitol. We are going to continue to the building next door, we’re going to continue to the voting poll, we are going to continue neighborhood to neighborhood by getting people registered to vote.”

 The Florida legislature passed a measure with new voting requirements last April that was eventually signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Additional changes might come if SB 524 is cleared. Like that bill, HB 7067 would require that mail-in ballots be sent in a double envelope. The last four digits of a driver license, state ID or Social Security number – whichever is on an individual’s voting records – has to also be in the envelope.

Congressman Al Lawson, who served 28 years in the state legislature, said he’s spent most of his years in the House and the Senate fighting to protect voting rights. He suggested that passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act by Congress would be the fix that the country needs.

Meanwhile, Democratic state senator Shevrin Jones said he expects voters to overcome any suppression they experience at the poll. Most of what’s written in SB 254 is illegal, he said.

“We have been here before,” said Jones. “We have seen this before. If our voice wasn’t so powerful they wouldn’t try to shut us up.”

Republican representative Daniel Perez of Miami and others in his party insist that the bill is necessary. Perez, sponsor of HB 7067, told the House Public Integrity & Elections Committee earlier this month that changes in the bill will make voting easier.

 “We believe that the process is actually going to be simpler … for the elderly, and at the same time it would be safer,” Perez said, according to a report by the News Service of Florida. “The way it would work is the secrecy envelope would go inside the certificate and then the certificate envelope would go inside of the mailing envelope as it would go out.”

Bill Proctor, chairman of the Leon County Commission, insisted that the bill making the rounds in the legislature is aimed directly at Blacks.

“To negate and subjugate Black voting is to compromise the power of Black freedom and Black citizenship,” Proctor said.

Nikki Fried, Commissioner of Agriculture and candidate for governor, said the turnout for the rally is a show of support for democracy and the constitution.

“Our people are determined,” Fried said. “Our people are determined to make sure that not only are we protecting democracy today but we are protecting democracy for generations to come.”

City Commissioner Curtis Richardson said the proposed voting laws are a reminder of the days that his parents were denied a right to vote in Green Cove Springs, where he grew up near the state’s east coast. He encouraged the crowd to endure like his family did, emphasizing a need to encourage young people to register to vote.

“This threat is not one that we as a community are encountering for the first time,” Richardson said. “To our benefit there exists a blueprint for overcoming these hurdles and like before it will take time, intentionality and unity across our diverse society to overcome.”