QUINCY, Fla. (WTXL) — While many in Leon and Gadsden County are opposing the state's newest voting law, Bob Rackleff and the Big Bend Voting Rights Group are using the law to get more people registered to vote.
"It's a reverse effect of what the sponsors intended," said Rackleff. "It's obviously a voter suppression law. There's no other explanation for it."
To show their displeasure with the new law DeSantis signed on Thursday that prohibits things like being in possession of more than two ballots that do not belong to immediate family members. Organizations gathered in Gadsden County holding a votercade driving around Midway, Quincy, and Havanna to help raise awareness of the importance of voting and to now register to vote.
"We say protect your vote," said Marva Jones, an organizer for the votercade. "We're here to make people aware of what's going on with the vote and to encourage and start activism to protect and make sure everybody is registered and to vote."
And while people like Marva Jones took the stage at what turned into a rally to help encourage more people in minority communities to vote. The Leon County Republican Party says there is no need to worry about voter suppression.
"You have two months' worth of voting in some form," said Evan Power, president of the Leon County Republican Party. "You can take your ballot to your polling place, you can take your ballot to your supervisor's office. It's a very simple process, and we have over two months' worth of having people being able to turn in their ballots, so I don't think it's worth fretting over disenfranchising any voters here in Florida."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida also filed a lawsuit last night against the state over DeSantis' controversial new law claiming it "burdens and chills" free speech and association protected under the First Amendment.
