By PRFSU Writers 2023-2024 Andres Cubillos
The 2022 Midterm Election Cycle can be characterized by massive, grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts nationwide. One such grassroots initiative was The League of Women Voters of Florida, Mission 1313 Pilot Project. The League was first founded in Florida in 1939 as a 501(c)(3) entity focused primarily on issues of civic engagement among women, education, and gun safety. Since then, The League has grown dramatically with their grassroots election efforts taking the lead year-round. In anticipation of the 2022 midterm election cycle, and the impact of Governor Ron DeSantis’ redistricting the previous legislative session, The League unveiled its first precinct-targeted voter registration drive. The project, dubbed “Mission 1313”, focused primarily on Precinct 1313 made up of several Southside Tallahassee neighborhoods including Callen, Providence, Elberta, and parts of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). Precinct 1313 has a total of 2,224 registered voters with an over 70% Black population. Residents of Providence, one of the larger neighborhoods in the precinct, have a median income of approximately $22,000 while the median for Tallahassee is nearly double at $40,000, and the issue of home ownership in this area is so persistent that the average length of stay was no more than two and a half year according to Barry Munroe, one of the leaders behind Mission 1313.
This area was targeted by The League due to historically low voter turnout rates. In the 2018 midterm election, only 49.86% of eligible voters made it to the polls and in 2020 that number was 57.59%. The League hoped to address low turnout numbers by running an on-the-ground voter registration drive. The idea behind this approach was that traditional barriers to voting for low-income areas could be combated by in-person voter education strategies that made voting more accessible. The League identified two primary problems to address through their efforts: apathy about the election and lack of information. In order to directly address these two issues The League took a non-traditional approach to voter education campaigns. In years past, community outreach was approached as broadly as possible with many voter registration drives happening at community events, local churches, or public spaces. Mission 1313 was the first attempt at direct outreach. Volunteers were asked to canvas door-to-door within the precinct with the goal of speaking to as many people as possible. bridging the gap between the election and the individual. Information was provided in a non-partisan context with volunteers seeking to familiarize individuals with the election process such as how to register to vote online, find their precinct voting location, and learn more about their elected officials.
This strategy can be compared to recent grassroots student movements during the 2020 election cycle. At Florida State University youth voter turnout was 63.5% in 2016 but increased, despite COVID-19, to 76.7% in 2020. Students at Florida State University approached online voter registration through student-to-student engagement using strategies like phone banking in place of canvassing. While the method of outreach is different between the students’ approach and The League, the similarities between the two include the type of content provided, the one-on-one format, and the focus on educating community members.
I had the privilege of meeting with two key leaders of Mission 1313. The first was Katie Bohnett, the current Vice President of the League of Women Voters, who prioritized the outreach to outside communities like Precinct 1313 and the large student population in Tallahassee. I also met with Barry Munroe who spearheaded Mission 1313. Barry Munroe has been a Tallahassee resident for over 35 years and works actively in the community through The United Church of Christ. Kaite Bohnett also serves the community in the Alliance for Safety and Justice as the Florida Government Affairs Manager. In our conversations, we focused on 3 different elements of the program: The background of why this method of outreach was chosen, Mission 1313 in practice, and finally the results of the project.
The conception of Mission 1313 goes all the way back to when Barry worked to gather petitions around Amendment 4 the “Voting Rights Restoration for Felons’ initiative. The League of Women Voters found that many members of the community were not aware of the possible amendment. Along the petition gathering process, they also found that many residents of Precinct 1313 were not in accessible canvassing locations, such as those living in mobile home parks, trailers, and other forms of “inaccessible” housing. According to Mr. Munroe “[y]ou’d have to park your car, leave your car, go through trails and potholes in order to reach these folks”. This brought Mr. Munroe to engage with the Big Bend Voting Rights Initiative. This initiative created a space where many league members could speak together about their experiences and find an intersection in their experiences of reaching out to these communities. Thus, Mission 1313 was first conceived with the goal of reaching previously “inaccessible” voters and ensuring they were properly educated on voting.
In terms of impact, Ms. Bohnett was able to provide more clarity on their efforts. In a memo on Mission 1313, The League relayed their numbers and the challenges that they faced with this year’s project. It is important to note that as a result of the previous redistricting cycle, Precinct 1313 was split into two; creating Precinct 1312, which was not a target location. In 2018 Precinct 1313 had a 49.7% turnout rate, while this past midterm cycle only 32.3% of residents turned out to vote. In their memo, The League took the time to acknowledge that they had fallen short on their goal to increase voter turnout in Precinct 1313. The League also used Precinct 1321, an area southeast of FAMU’s campus with a similar demographic makeup, to compare voter turnout. They found that similarly, Precinct 1321 experienced a decrease in voter turnout (16.7%). Due to the recency of the 2022 midterm election, it is difficult to assign a specific cause for the decline in African-American communities’ voter turnout in Leon County. However, some theories do exist within League discussion. One such theory is that 2022 did not host a high-profile African-American candidate in the same way that 2018 did with Andrew Gillum. To back this up, the League points to the disparity between the decline in African-American turnout and the decline in Leon County as a whole. Leon County experienced an 8.3% decrease while the state of Florida, as a whole, experienced an 8.9% decrease. Regardless of the underlying theories, The League was not able to achieve its goals and is now looking for input from residents in the target area to better set and reach its goals in the future.
The League however was able to make great strides in voter registration and voter engagement. Over the course of the long election cycle, The League was able to reach 43,209 voters and register 2,022. Going forward we can anticipate that The League of Women Voters and other local non-profit organizations will adapt their strategies in preparation for the upcoming 2024 election cycle.
References
Institute For Democracy and Higher Education, and Tufts University John M. Tisch College of Civic Life. “Student Voting Rates for Florida State University 2020 NSLVE Campus Report.” Oct. 2021.
Leon County Supervisor of Elections. “Voter Demographic Data.” Www.leonvotes.gov, 11 Oct. 2022, www.leonvotes.gov/Records-Data-Maps/Voter-Demographic-Data. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.
https://www.leonvotes.gov/Records-Data-Maps/Voter-Demographic-Data
Statistical Atlas. “The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States – Statistical Atlas.” Statisticalatlas.com, 18 Sept. 2018, statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Florida/Tallahassee/Providence/Household-Income. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.
https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Florida/Tallahassee/Providence/Household-Income
Mission 1313 Encounters Challenges