Get Out the Vote, a voter mobilization group, registered over 1,000 UM students last year according to former president Antonella Criscola, bringing a new wave of young voters to the polls. But, a new piece of Florida legislation is preventing them from providing paper registration forms to students.
Now, GOTV, and similar organizations across Florida college campuses, are getting creative to keep young voter turnout high ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The new bill that went into effect last July, SB 7050, introduced strict rules and regulations on third-party voter registration organizations. The law requires these organizations to re-register every election cycle as 3PVROs and shortens the timeframe to submit registration applications from 14 days to 10. It also imposes hefty fines—up to $250,000 annually—for late submissions or other infractions.
At the University of Miami, GOTV has an impressive history of mobilizing many student voters in past election cycles, and has received several accolades for its work. In 2021, UM was designated a “Voter Friendly Campus” by the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project (CVP) and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), and in 2022, it was named one of ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting.
“To comply with Florida legislation pertaining to voter registration, Get Out the Vote (GOTV) is encouraging students to use miami.turbovote.org to register. Voter education programs will continue throughout the semester. Students can reach out to GOTV at vote@miami.edu for more information,” Get Out the Vote’s UM charter said in a statement to TMH.
TurboVote, a non-profit, allows students to register to vote regardless of their state or check their current registration status. It also provides helpful information on how to vote early, by mail or in person.
Professor Arthur Simon, who teaches political science at UM, offered his two cents on the issue to TMH, “Popular sovereignty, which is an essential cornerstone of a truly representative democracy, is strengthened when government enables more citizens to vote – and is undermined when government imposes unnecessary barriers to voter registration and turnout.”
The law also changes who isn’t allowed to handle forms and register voters such as convicted felons and noncitizens. Although it was ruled unconstitutional in March that noncitizens couldn’t register voters. This has led to groups like Poder Latinx and the League of Women Voters of Florida to claim this has caused a decline in their efforts to get students and other groups registered, according to an article by Stateline.
Barbara Casanova, president of Citizen’s First, a Miami-based non-profit that helps people run for elected office, believes the new legislation is good. She was asked about the law and the extra steps these organizations have to take when registering voters like printing receipts to give to them. Casanova said,“It’s one of the prices we pay to be able to carry out our civic duty.”
However, Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who started the third party registration group People Power For Florida, called the state “aggressive” in their approach.“It’s hard to fight back because we’re up against the state of Florida,” Eskamani said.
For more information, visit Get out the Vote’s page on the Campus Lab website to learn more and how to get involved.