Jesse Scheckner
Equal Ground, a Black-led voting rights organization, is launching a 15-county statewide tour to spotlight what it calls the Legislature’s “egregious failures” this year and actions lawmakers took to reduce voter power.
The “Legislative Debrief” kicks off June 7 in Hillsborough County and will run through mid-August, with stops in major counties like Orange, Duval, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.
It follows what Equal Ground described as “one of the least productive and most chaotic” Sessions in recent memory.
During this year’s Regular Session, the Senate and House failed to agree on a constitutionally required balanced budget. That forced lawmakers into an overtime extension through at least June 6 to resolve major spending disagreements between the chambers and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Office.
But that wasn’t their only failure, according to Equal Ground Executive Director Genesis Robinson, who bashed state leaders for not addressing “the pressing needs of Floridians” and “using their power to silence Florida voters” by adding limitations to the state’s ballot initiative process.
Robinson was referring to Republican-backed legislation (HB 1205) DeSantis swiftly signed to add new hurdles for future citizen-led ballot initiatives like 2024 Amendments 3 and 4, which the Governor used taxpayer money to combat.
“We are ensuring that all Floridians understand what happened this year as lawmakers not only attacked our rights, but also failed to meet their most basic constitutional obligation — passing a budget — on time,” he said.
“Floridians are not being represented by or advocated for by those in power in our Florida State Legislature, and we will do everything in our power to educate voters, ensure they can make their voices heard, and know how to show their dismay with this egregious failure at the ballot box.”
A press note from Equal Ground said the tour stops will feature community leaders and elected leaders speaking about the “wide-ranging attacks on communities of color” and how voters can stay engaged in future election cycles.
Attendees will also hear about GOP efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion practices, add more restrictions to voting and “undermine public education.”
Tour stops, which are subject to change, can be viewed here.
One comment
R Russell
May 21, 2025 at 9:51 am
Did the Colonists who came to our shires over 400 years ago come because of diversity, equity and inclusion policies? The USA has survived and won two World Wars because America sought and promoted excellent military leaders. Had DEI polivies been in effect, we would be speaking Deutsch or Japanese and if DEI were present in the Trump Administration, we would soon be speaking Mandarin!