The Pinellas Supervisor of Elections has been put on notice of a possible voting rights violation by not setting up an early voting location in a heavily Black part of St. Petersburg.
Pinellas County has seven early voting locations, but none are in South St. Petersburg, which has the county's largest Black population. The Southern Poverty Law Center has reached out to the county's elections office after almost 50 civil rights and faith community organizations petitioned for a new voting site.
Matletha Bennette is with the center's Democracy Voting Rights team.
"When you end up creating a situation where it limits the avenues of voting that you have, you are diminishing an individual's right to access the ballot."
Bennette said many residents don't have access to reliable transportation, so it would diminish their right to access the ballot. And she said it is not a new issue.
"The community itself has been advocating for this for months in recent history - 18 months at this time right now - and then years even beyond that," she said.
A spokesman for the elections office said all Pinellas voters are within five miles of an early voting site, and voters can also mail in their ballot.
"Voters have three ways to cast a ballot," said elections spokesman Dustin Chase. "Every registered voter has the option to request a mail ballot at VotePinellas.gov; and on Election Day, 157 polling places will be open throughout the county. Voters can choose the voting option that best meets their needs.”
Bennette said the nearest early voting site is in Gulfport, which presents problems for some residents.
"Historically and currently many members of the community do not feel comfortable, particularly because Gulfport has been known both in the news and through reports as a sundown town," she said, "which is an area where Black people were not welcome and who were often in fear of their life, or physically attacked or approached, and so many people that we spoke to and have communicated with do not feel comfortable visiting that site."
Bennette said a lawsuit might be filed if an agreement cannot be reached.
"Our goal here was to work collaboratively with the supervisor and see how we can work together to meet the needs of this community before pursuing that action," she said. "We have not foreclosed the idea of litigation, so that is still something that we are exploring. But we're hoping to work collaboratively and move forward in a way that all parties needs can be met and satisfied."
