Sunday before Election Day in November, they might hear sermons about voting. But unlike 2008, they won’t be able to head straight to the polls afterward.
In 2011, the state Legislature passed an election bill signed by Gov. Rick Scott that, among other changes, eliminated early voting on the last Sunday before Election Day.
Critics argued that the moves were partisan and that the Republican-controlled Legislature and Republican governor wanted to block Democrats and churches from geting out the vote. Dubbed "Souls to the Polls," Democratic-friendly groups sometimes bussed voters to election sites on that final Sunday.
And getting rid of that final Sunday affects minorities, said U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville.
"Statistics show that in the 2008 general election in Florida, 33.2 percent of those who voted early on the last Sunday before Election Day were African-American, while 23.6 percent were Hispanic," Brown wrote in a June 15 press release.
Brown’s precise percentages caught our attention, so PolitiFact decided to check out her numbers.
Now ... did you also look into the time-honored practice by Democrats of greasing the pastors' palms to get their congregants' souls turned out to the polls on Sunday afternoons?
Traditionally, that cash was buried in the official GOTV funds the party distributes.
Posted by: whasup | June 22, 2012 at 06:20 PM
I guess these reliable voters will have to find their own way to the polls.
Posted by: whatacrock | June 23, 2012 at 07:34 AM