Operation BlackOut, a new initiative with powerful backing, launched by State Senator Shevrin Jones, aims to boost vote-by-mail registration among Black and Brown progressives who are registered to vote but don’t.
Operation BlackOut expects to enroll more than 40,000 “non-traditional, unlikely Black and Brown progressive voters” to be able to vote by mail. If recent trends hold, that could translate into an electorate expansion of up to 30,000 voters for Democratic candidates — the margin of victory or defeat in three 2018 statewide midterm elections, including one in which Rick Scott defeated Bill Nelson for a U.S. Senate seat.
For Democrats to turn the tide and build up power, Jones said, they can’t focus solely on registration.
“Nearly all data experts agree that Florida Democrats can’t simply register our way to a win in a state too often lost on the margins,” he said in a statement. “It is imperative that we boost engagement with sporadic voters, particularly young people in communities of color, who feel disenchanted with politics these days.”
The statewide voter push, launched during Black History Month, comes amid several pieces of GOP legislation designed to constrict voting access and curb so-called “woke” educational and corporate practices in the state.
