Contributor

In response to Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez announcing that the county will be offering early voting on Florida International University campus, LWV of Florida President Patricia Brigham offered the following statement:

In his July 24th opinion, Judge Mark Walker ruled that Florida’s ban on campus early voting locations violated the U.S. Constitution and showed a “stark pattern of discrimination.” We extend our thanks to Mayor Gimenez, Supervisor Christina White, and FIU President Mark Rosenberg for rectifying this pattern of discrimination and for listening to the pleas of their students.

The list of college and university campuses offering early voting sites now includes: University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, University of North Florida, Edward Waters College, Florida Atlantic University, and now Florida International University.

This is a victory for democracy throughout the state of Florida, and a testament to the hard work of our state’s Supervisors of Elections and their determination to ensure equitable access to the ballot for all Floridians.

Today’s announcement is another example of the incredible power that citizens wield to enact change. Undoubtedly, the deciding factor in this decision was the bipartisan coalition of students calling for Mayor Gimenez and Supervisor White to allow early voting on FIU campus. This coalition also included organizations like the FIU College Republicans, the FIU College Democrats, LWV of Miami-Dade County, ACLU of Florida, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, All Voting is Local-FL, Florida New Majority, NextGen Florida, and Engage Miami.

Ensuring that Florida’s young people can use their voice is an issue that transcends all political divides. It was that desire from students at UF and FSU to use their voice that led to the lawsuit filed by the League and the Andrew Goodman Foundation. We look forward to providing assistance to our state’s Supervisors of Elections with voter registration and outreach as needed.