With early voting underway in Florida\u2019s August primary, Black civic organizations are urging voters to make a plan, learn the rules and cast ballots in races that could shape their communities long before November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n
The push comes amid low turnout in Miami-Dade County and rapidly changing voting rights and rules. By Tuesday, Aug. 11, after one week of in-person early voting, 101,246 of the county\u2019s 1.3 million registered voters \u2014 about 8% \u2014 had cast ballots by mail or in person ahead of the primary election on Aug. 18, according to Miami-Dade Supervisor of Electionsdata<\/a>. Registered Democrats accounted for roughly 48,000 ballots, Republicans for 34,689 and voters without party affiliation for about 17,000.<\/p>\n The numbers sharpen organizers\u2019 message: Voting is already happening, so get up, go out, and vote.<\/p>\n \u201cParticipating in the primary is your first step to determine what will happen in the general election,\u201d said Daniella Pierre, president of the NAACP Miami-Dade Branch. \u201cOftentimes in the primary election, you get a chance to decide on your school board. You often get a chance to decide on your county commission, and other local races are decided in that primary.\u201d<\/p>\n Urgency and frustration on the ground<\/p>\n Organizations are seeing different levels of enthusiasm among Black voters.<\/p>\n Genesis Robinson, executive director of Florida voting-rights organization Equal Ground, said voters are embracing the prospect of choosing new leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Black voters are excited about the opportunity to have new leadership,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cWe have seen a failure amongst current elected leaders to address some of the issues that are central and priority to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamil Davis, lead organizer for national organization Black Voters Matter, also described \u201ca heightened energy,\u201d with voters paying closer attention to candidates and ballot measures.<\/p>\n In Miami-Dade County, however, Pierre said the NAACP has seen a \u201clack of urgency\u201d among voters.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we’re seeing appears to be a lack of urgency around the importance and significance of voting, and partly because a good number of community residents have expressed concerns of not seeing change happening for them individually and as a collective whole,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Organizations said voter disengagement is not driven by a single issue. They pointed to misinformation, confusing election rules, economic hardship and frustration with elected officials as overlapping barriers to participation.<\/p>\n Pierre said some residents do not understand their ballots, the importance of primaries or how voting connects to change. Others believe voting has not improved their lives or access to elected officials.<\/p>\n Immediate needs can also take priority.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a Black voter who may have an issue with finding affordable housing, what\u2019s priority to that voter right now is a safe, decent and affordable place to live,\u201d Pierre said.<\/p>\n Healthcare, food and childcare costs pose similar obstacles.<\/p>\n Davis also identified affordability \u2014 including groceries, gas, housing and healthcare \u2014 as the main concern expressed during outreach.<\/p>\n Voting rights, confusion and changes<\/p>\n This year\u2019s elections follow the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which organizers say gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and weakened challenges to maps that dilute minority voting strength. The ruling came as the nation marked the law\u2019s 61st anniversary.<\/p>\n Robinson called the Voting Rights Act \u201cone of the seminal and crowning achievements of the Civil Rights Movement,\u201d noting that it helped compel Florida to create districts where Black voters could elect their preferred candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it has been diminished through the Louisiana v. Callais decision, I think it should be a call to action to all of us to do whatever we can to enshrine voting rights and protect access to the ballot box of democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Davis said the effects of the decision were immediate in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cImmediately, the day that Louisiana vs. Callais was decided by the Supreme Court, we were already in the second day of the special session around the drawing of the maps,\u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd it put us in a position where more congressional districts were redrawn in a way that would call for a partisan gerrymandering in the state of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n However, research<\/a> by the Black Opposition Coalition suggests that attacks on voting rights may motivate more Black voters to participate.<\/p>\n The study found 64% of Black voters said such attacks and Southern gerrymandering made them more likely to vote in the midterms. It also found 75% were willing to take at least three political actions \u2014 such as voting, protesting or boycotting \u2014 up from 62% in October 2025.<\/p>\n The coalition has studied Black voter attitudes since last year.<\/p>\n Voting-rights groups are also countering confusion about vote-by-mail and other election rules. Vote-by-mail requests for Florida\u2019s August primaries have fallen from more than 4 million in 2022 to about 1.9 million this cycle. The decline follows years of partisan attacks on mail ballots, including President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that they are \u201cinherently corrupt,\u201d and tighter state restrictions.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s 2021 Senate Bill 90 ended standing vote-by-mail requests across election cycles, requiring a new request each even-numbered year. Trump\u2019s administration has also asked the Supreme Court to allow portions of an executive order<\/a> imposing additional mail-voting restrictions to proceed, although organizers said those federal changes would not take effect for the current election.<\/p>\n Robinson noted that Florida already has many of the provisions outlined in the executive order; for example, the state already requires mailed ballots to be received by Election Day, one provision targeted by the federal order. He said years of state legislation have reduced mail-ballot access and allowed voters to be \u201cpurged\u201d from request lists.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to remain vigilant and make sure that we’re educating people around all the pathways that they have to be able to access the ballot box, to ensure that they’re preparing and that no one’s caught off guard with any of these changes that would disenfranchise them from being able to participate,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n