Sen. Shevrin Jones Leads New Voter Registration Effort

Miami FL

16 February, 2022

5:58 PM

Description

A Miami Times Staff Report, the Miami Times Feb 15, 2022 State Sen. Shevrin Jones has launched Operation BlackOut to increase vote-by-mail and voter registration in low-participating Black communities. The initiative's is timed to this year's midterm elections, with the goal of enrolling more than 40,000 nontraditional, unlikely Black and brown progressive voters In an effort to boost Florida Democrats' voter registration numbers. "If we are going to turn the tide and grow power, we need to expand the electorate through voter registration as well as engage and turn out the millions of Black and Brown voters who do not vote," said Jones in a statement. "Nearly all data experts agree that Florida Democrats can't simply register our way to a win in a state too often lost on the margins – it is imperative that we boost engagement with sporadic voters, particularly young people and in communities of color, who feel disenchanted with politics these days." The project's website, BlackOut.vote, directly links people to their county supervisor of elections to request a mail ballot. In a news release, Jones also said that if the recent trends hold for Democrats, the initiative could expand the electorate by 20,000 to 30,000 new voters for progressive candidates, a margin he notes was enough to win three statewide Florida elections in 2018. Black Voters Matter (Operation BlackOut) The spread of COVID-19 has significantly increased vote-by-mail in Florida and around the country, hence the effort to take advantage of that growing trend among Democrats, who used to vote in person in greater numbers. In the 2020 general election, Florida Democrats cast 680,000 more mail ballots than Republicans. Operation BlackOut launched during Black History Month by design and while officials combat new voter suppression laws designed to limits the use of ballot boxes widely popularized during the pandemic. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.