With the deadline fast approaching for Floridians to get registered to vote, a new campaign kicked off Tuesday to get people signed up and make sure that when they vote, they’re educated about the issues on the ballot. It’s a non-partisan effort that brings together two groups that were, just months ago, battling in federal court over Florida’s election law.
Between 1,500 and 3,000 Floridians are registering to vote on average a day, and Secretary of State Ken Detzner says his agency along with groups, like the Florida League of Women Voters, is hoping to ramp up efforts to get even more citizens signed up before the October 9th deadline passes. So, they kicked off a new media campaign Tuesday for National Voter Registration Day.
“We’re very close to the general election, so it’s very important that Floridians need to register to vote, and what they’re options are when they go to vote," said Detzner. "We are excited to be revealing three public service announcements which are airing statewide thanks to our friends, the Florida Cable Association and the Florida Association of Broadcasters.”
The three public service announcements combined cost the state about 30-thousand dollars to create. And, they will air on television and radio throughout the state, like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNr-4-gIs5k&feature=player_embedded
Jessica Lowe-Minor is the Executive Director of the Florida League of Women Voters. Her group usually starts registering voters earlier, but she says they were setback by a 2011 election law that placed restrictions on groups like hers to register voters. So, the League halted its voter registration drives and sued the state over several provisions in the law. Now, that a federal judge has banned some of those provisions and the group has since settled their differences with the state, Lowe-Minor says they’re excited to move forward:
“We have almost 400 League Volunteers who are authorized to do voter registration in the state at this time. And, they’re out in full force. So, we’re going to try and get as many people registered, as many as we can," said Lowe-Minor. "We’re also pushing folks to get registered via our web site www.bereadytovote.org. People can download a voter registration form there and print it out and turn it into their Supervisor on their own.”
Floridians must be registered to vote by October 9th to cast a ballot in the 2012 General Election. From October 27th to November 3rd, Florida voters also have eight days of early voting to cast a ballot at a polling place prior to Election Day.
To learn more about the campaign or to view the PSAs online, visit KnowYourVoteCounts.com.
For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on twitter @SaschaCordner.
