TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A town hall meeting stressed the importance of voting no matter how difficult it may seem.
A history professor at Florida A & M University, Larry Rivers, said that "Black voter suppression is as old as the founding of this country."
African American men won the right to vote in 1870 and black women did so in 1920.
Yet still recent census data shows both minority voter turnout was down in last November's elections.
Part of that is rooted in history, including such things as the poll tax, the literacy clause and the grandfather clause."
Now, local leaders say it's gerrymandering and voter identification laws keeping minority Americans from the polls.
Dorothy Inman-Johnson, a former Tallahassee mayor, said "That requires you to produce certain things that they think poor people or black people might not have easy access to."
When Floridians head to the polls in November, the ballot will also include an amendment to restore voting rights for former felons.
