Our right to vote is under assault in Florida — and so is our democracy | Guest Opinion

This year, voters throughout the country recognized a simple fact as they headed to polls: Democracy was on the ballot.

From races for local school boards to state legislatures to governorships and the U.S. Senate, Americans roundly rejected election deniers and supporters of the Big Lie pushed by former President Trump at all levels of government.

The freedom to vote in free and fair elections is one of the most fundamental rights we enjoy as citizens of this state and this country. Whether casting a ballot through the mail, during early voting or on Election Day, we can have faith that, in a democracy, this simple act of making our voices heard is how we enact positive change for ourselves, our families and our communities.

However, in Florida, our freedom to vote is under attack. At the direction of Gov. DeSantis, who has been taking his cues from the retired Floridian at Mar-a-Lago, the state’s Republican leadership has embarked on a systematic effort to make it harder to cast a ballot, to try to intimidate Black voters and to gerrymander away the Congressional representation that minority communities deserve.

Despite state Sen. Joe Gruters, Republican Party of Florida chairman, and my Senate colleague, calling Florida the gold standard” of elections nationwide in 2020, Republicans moved to limit safe, secure and convenient drop boxes for mail-in ballots. For many voters, especially hourly workers struggling to make ends meet and who might not have a consistent work schedule, drop boxes made it easier for them to find a time to cast their ballots. By limiting the availability of drop boxes, it added another unnecessary hurdle to the election process.

Next, in service of pushing Trump’s Big Lie of a stolen election, DeSantis also instituted a first-in-the-nation elections police force. While we can all agree on the importance of election security, this is a solution in search of a problem and a waste of taxpayers’ money, one whose real purpose seemed to be to discourage Black voters from casting their ballots.

When the governor holds a press conference announcing the felony arrests of 20 people who had been issued voter registration cards by the state, 15 of whom were Black, months before Election Day, it is clear the aim was never to combat so-called fraud, but to attack the freedom to vote of minority communities by sowing fear and confusion.

To top it all off, the governor took the unprecedented step of overriding the Republican Legislature’s consensus maps, pushing through his own gerrymandered Congressional districts during our redistricting process this year. These maps deliberately favored the Republican Party and achieved its goal of slashing minority representation in Congress, while discouraging those communities from going to the polls. This unconstitutional act could have impacts on our state for years to come.

As we leave the 2022 election season behind and look toward 2024, we know that in our state about one third of votes are cast by mail, one third during early voting and one third on Election Day. For many Floridians, from active-duty military members serving away from home to people with disabilities, including disabled veterans, to senior citizens who enjoy the convenience of voting at their kitchen table to Black communities that come together during Souls to the Polls, having all of these options available is vital.

With Trump already declaring his candidacy for president with a promise to end all mail and early voting, we must stand strong here in Florida and keep our sacred freedom to vote accessible, secure and convenient for everyone.

The future of democracy depends on it.

Shevrin Jones represents District 34 in the Florida Senate.