Voting sign in Gulfport, Florida, by Seán Kinane/WMNF News (2024).
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is joining nearly 50 churches and civil rights groups who signed a letter in March asking for early voting in the Childs Park neighborhood of South St. Petersburg.
Matletha Bennette, a senior staff attorney with SPLC’s democracy and voting rights team, said that an area containing a third of St. Pete’s Black population currently has no early voting site.
“Based on our preliminary analysis, it does not seem as if voting sites are geographically located to provide that equal voting opportunity,” Bennette told WMNF.
SPLC sent a letter to Election Supervisor Julie Marcus last week warning her that not establishing an early voting site could violate state and federal laws requiring equal geographical access to early voting sites.
A representative for Marcus’ office said that there are other voting options available, like voting by mail or on election day at a closer polling place. He told the Tampa Bay Times that adding one might require them to add more early voting sites elsewhere to comply with the equal access law.
“Good enough is not enough for the voters in South St. Petersburg,” Bennette told WMNF. “South St. Petersburg has a disproportionately high number of folks who don’t have access to transportation and vehicles. And so that five miles that might be a 5–10 minute drive for someone with a vehicle is, you know, an hour on the bus and planning their day around a vote.
She added that Gulfport was a sundown town “within living memory,” so some Black voters might not be comfortable going there to vote.
This isn’t the first time this problem has been raised. Churches called for an early voting site in South St. Pete ten years ago and offered up their own properties for the cause, but the election supervisor declined.