Members of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition have reportedly received threats from white supremacists. The organization's executive director Desmond Meade says white supremacists have terrorized him for supposedly “working to undermine President Donald Trump’s re-election.”
“White supremacist groups were encouraging people to go to our website and do nefarious things and trying to sabotage the site,” Meade said.
“We’ve never had this issue before. We’re fighting just as hard for that person who wishes they could have voted for Donald Trump as the person who wishes they voted for Barack Obama.”
The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is a voter rights group working to offer formerly incarcerated people the ability to vote. In the state of Florida, a GOP backed law requires formerly incarcerated people to pay fines before they can regain their right to vote. As a result, 32,000 Black and Latinx people have been blocked from casting their ballots. In support of the coalition's movements, public figures like LeBron James, John Legend and Michael Bloomberg have donated to the organization this year.
“White supremacy and racism are unacceptable,” Moody’s spokeswoman, Lauren Cassedy, said.
“Threats of violence should be immediately reported to law enforcement.”
As more high-profile figures joined the movement to offer formerly incarcerated people the right to vote, state officials began to look deeper into the organization's initiatives. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has asked the Tampa FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the coalition. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Moody implied that “Bloomberg could be offering illegal incentives for felons to vote."
Despite outside detractors, he Florida Rights Restoration Coalition continues to move forward with one week until Election Day.
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