One of the premier political events in the Black community, Souls to the Polls, won’t happen in Fort Lauderdale before the primary.
It had been planned for Sunday, the last day of early voting before the Aug. 18 primary. But former state Sen. Chris Smith, the lead organizer, said by text Wednesday it was canceled “due to a myriad of circumstances and scheduling conflicts.”
He said Fort Lauderdale’s Souls to the Polls event, including a march and rally, would take place before the November general election.
Hundreds of people typically gather at New Hope Baptist Church for a mile-long march down Sistrunk Boulevard, the main street of the historically Black northwest part of the city.
Police shut down the street for the march, led by a bullhorn-toting Smith. Federal, state and local candidates participate. At the conclusion, politicians speak at a rally and circulate among voters.
Souls to the Polls events have become a tradition since Florida authorized in-person early voting in the early 2000s. They started with clergy at Black churches urging parishioners to leave services and head directly to the nearest early voting sites
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The idea has since evolved to a broader effort by politicians, clergy and celebrities to attract attention and make a broader audience realize it needs to vote. They’re no longer Sunday-only events. A Souls to the Polls event is planned for Saturday in Miami Gardens.
Hundreds of people participated in a Souls to the Polls march on Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 3, 2024. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Though Souls to the Polls events are usually billed as nonpartisan, they’re aimed at turning out Democratic voters. Smith, a former Democratic leader in both the Florida Senate and Florida House, left public office in 2016, but still organizes and emcees the event.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.