Election Day
It is election day. Polls close in Florida tonight at 7p.m. In Lake County, Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays was out surveying precincts this afternoon. He joins Engage for an update from the polls.
Central Florida Public Media reporter Joe Byrnes visited polling places in Ocala and joins Engage after speaking with voters.
Downtown Orlando Safety
Central Floridians awoke Friday morning to news of another mass shooting in the region. A seventeen-year-old boy in downtown Orlando’s entertainment district was seen on video shooting a handgun into the crowd. 25-year-old Tyrek Hill and 19-year-old Timothy Schmidt Jr. were killed. They were two of nine people shot. Another woman was injured in the stampede of people fleeing the area of the shooting. Yesterday, State Attorney Andrew Bain announced the accused shooter will be charged as an adult.
In response the shooting, the city implemented a temporary 1am curfew and restricted businesses from selling alcohol after midnight. Shan Rose is the City Commissioner serving Orlando’s Fifth District. She joins Engage to bring us up to speed about the city’s plans for creating a safe and accessible downtown space for both Floridians and visitors.
Felon Voting Rights
In all but two states, a felony conviction restricts or eliminates a person’s right to vote. It’s a policy that has been set by states and has its roots in the era of Reconstruction. Florida leads the country in the number of disenfranchised voters due to felony convictions. For most of Florida’s history, people with felony convictions could only vote after appealing to a clemency board. Efforts to restore voting rights for former felons came to a head in 2018, when voters approved a ballot amendment to allow Floridians with felony records to vote. There were acceptable caveats including those convicted of rape or murder would not have their voting rights restored.
The victory for voting rights was somewhat short lived. Less than six months after its passage, the state’s legislature added an addendum that requires former convicts to pay all court and legal fees before voting. This created a roadblock that suppressed the vote of some of the convicted. The efforts to put felon voting rights on the ballot six years ago was spearheaded by Desmond Meade, the Founder and Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a non-profit committed to restoring voting rights for people with felony convictions. On this Election Day, we asked Meade to talk with us about those efforts and his work overcoming what he saw as obstacles set by the legislature and Governor DeSantis.
Seventeen in America
A story inspired by the civic engagement of young people is making its world premiere in Orlando. The orchestral work called Seventeen will be performed at Steinmetz Hall at the Doctor Phillips Center with the Orlando Philharmonic on Friday, November 8. Seventeen shares the experiences of young Americans in their own words. Librettist and producer Portia Kamons conducted interviews with the young activists to create the script. Kamons worked with composer Ron Ramin on Seventeen. They decided using the words verbatim of those people coming into adulthood was the most effective means of storytelling for their piece.
Kamons joins Engage to discuss the origin of Seventeen after the mass shooting at Parkland high school in 2018 and her experience working with the young advocates in the years that followed. D’Montrae Harris is one of the actors in Seventeen. He recently graduated from DeLand High School and is a freshman at Florida Southern College. Harris joins Engage to discuss his involvement and experience.
