Voting Rights Bus Tour stopped in Gainesville to help ‘free the vote’

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - A coalition stopped by north central Florida to engage with the community about the power of the vote this election.

The Voting Rights Bus Tour made a stop to the Supervisor of Elections Office in Gainesville Tuesday afternoon.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition created the multi-city tour as an early voting initiative to support people with past felony convictions to vote.

Neil Volz, the deputy director of the coalition, said he was not able to vote for the last two decades because of past felonies and was able to vote for the first time this year with the help of the passage of amendment four in 2018.

“it made me feel like a citizen in my community,” Volz said. “It made me feel like my voice mattered and in a way allowed me to take that pain and some of those past decisions and turn them into something positive."

The next stop for the tour bus is St. Augustine.

“This is really just a celebration for so many of us with past felony convictions who were not able to vote until this election cycle so we’re out here celebrating democracy ultimately,” Volz said.

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