The next round of postcard writing is coming up to help get out the vote in states where voting restrictions are being implemented. This time we’ll be focusing on Florida. Addresses for the Get Out the Vote campaign in Florida’s primary have just become available.
This first batch are for a part of Florida you’ve probably not heard of – St Lucie. St Lucie is a county on the East coast just northeast of Lake Okeechobee, the big lake in the lower third of the state, just up from the everglades. It’s largely made up of agriculture and retiree communities, those being lower income. The entire county is around 300,000 people with around 20% of being Black. This Get Out The Vote campaign is aiming to contact roughly half the voting Black population in the county, described as infrequent voters. Campaigns for other counties in Florida will likely follow this one.
Most of the southern states had early primaries – but not Florida. Their early voting window is short – the week Aug 13-20 with the primary day Aug. 23. These cards are to be held till August 1-8, so they arrive right before the early voting starts and the final primary day.
This election may be considered an off year since the president isn’t on the ballot, but one of the state federal senators, Marco Rubio, is up for reelection, and so are 5 state administrative seats, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state being just three that matter. Of course, all 28 house seats are also up every 2 years. These postcards may be the only communication that these marginalized people receive, so it matters.
For more information about participating in this campaign, please contact Lynn Roesch or Marilyn Mayers, who can supply you with postcards, address labels and everything else you need!
Amanda Strombom, member of East Shore’s Get out the Vote Campaign team