On Tuesday, Florida’s Republican majority Board of County Commissioners decided to nix one third of Manatee County’s voting sites.
The proposal came from Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett. Despite public testimony against the vote, plus complaints of Democrats, he board accepted Bennett’s proposal to reduce Manatee County precincts from 99 to 69.
All 10 speeches from the public comment section of the meeting unanimously opposed the change. The local representatives from the Southern Christian Leadership Council and the NAACP say the proposal would lower voter turnout because people will have to travel farther. However, Bennett says this move will save money.
Bennett has been trying to make voting harder for a while. In 2011 he said “I wouldn’t have any problem making it harder. I would want them to vote as badly as I want to vote. I want the people of the state of Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who’s willing to walk 200 miles…This should not be easy.