Election Day: The Attack on Voting Rights in the South

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The South Florida Business Journal is reporting: “Voting controversies are continuing on Election Day in South Florida. …Amid reports that some absentee ballots in Broward are being rejected for lacking a signature, Miami-Dade has reiterated the importance of signing inside the red box on the back of the envelope. …A lawsuit settled with the Florida Democratic Party gave voters to the ability to cast in-person absentee ballots on Election Day in Broward and Palm Beach counties and extended the hours to do so, according to The Miami Herald.”

CHRIS KROMM [email]
Kromm is the executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of Facing South/Southern Exposure. He said today: “Three big themes are emerging in the South this election. One, the battle over the right to vote is reaching a fever pitch. Changes in voting laws in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and other states are having a big effect on who can and can’t vote. We’re hearing reports of people having to wait in line for three or four hours to vote — an issue made worse by cuts to early voting and state election budgets. Second, record-setting amounts of special interest money are flooding into this year’s elections and could have a big impact, especially in state-level races. Lastly, whatever the outcome, it’s clear the Southern electorate is changing — it’s younger, more racially diverse, more urban. This new Southern electorate will only grow in the future. But it’s also the very same voters who are most hurt by the attack on voting rights in the South.”