Let’s Make a Push to Get Out the Vote

A Focused Registration Effort is Key to Reach Underrepresented Groups, Write Advocates

Today, there is an urgent need to contact unregistered Florida adults through the mail or online, and our local election officials should actively support efforts to register Floridians to vote.

To meet the moment, the nonpartisan Voter Participation Center (VPC) and Center for Voter Information (CVI) are increasing their mail-based and digital voter registration efforts during the COVID-19 crisis. And many other civic-engagement organizations including The First Coast Leadership Foundation, Organize Florida and UnidosUS are continuing their work and outreach — person-to-person through technology — to ensure historically disadvantaged communities exercise their most fundamental freedom by registering to vote and requesting Vote-by-Mail ballots.

Last month, VPC and CVI mailed almost 12 million pieces to prospective voters in 22 states, including 2.3 million mail pieces in Florida. These organizations have helped register more than 4.6 million voters nationally and more than 691,025 Floridians. Grass-roots organizations in Florida have also filed a lawsuit against Florida election officials, urging them to make critical adjustments to online voter registration, early voting plans and vote-by-mail processes. The case, Dream Defenders v. DeSantis, argues that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida’s election administrations must ensure that voters are able to participate and stay healthy.