On March 30, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted. It had been ratified on February 3, 1870 as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. On March 30, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish proclaimed the 15 Amendment to be officially part of the U.S. Constitution. Historian Stephen West explains, “That was considered necessary because of questions about its status amidst the messy and irregular politics of Reconstruction.”

The 15th Amendment is described in Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution,

“In 1870, two years after the 14th Amendment was ratified, Congress and the states responded to another round of racial violence in the South by providing additional constitutional protection for the Black electorate. The 15th Amendment declared that the right of U.S. citizens to vote could “not be abridged or denied” by any state” on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Florida must expand, not curtail, access to the ballot box by Tom Lopach and Juanica Fernandes in the Tallahassee Democrat

In the aftermath of the contentious  2020 elections, there’s one point most Florida Republicans and Democrats can agree upon: The state and county election offices did an admirable job in running a fair and efficient election. As Gov. Ron DeSantis himself recently declared, “Last November, Florida held the smoothest, most successful election of any state in the country.”

But that’s where the "Kumbaya" agreement may end. Despite the widespread acknowledgement of a free and fair electoral process in the Sunshine State, the governor and many lawmakers now want to backtrack. Several restrictive new voting laws, including SB 90, would upend Florida’s mail-in ballot system and cancel current mail ballot requests. Worst of all, these proposed bills threaten to disproportionately disenfranchise Florida’s Black and brown voters.

Session's limited access darkens Sunshine Week (The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board on March 14)

During a normal session of the Florida Legislature, the halls of the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings are filled with advocates, constituents and lobbyists, all hoping to persuade their elected officials on any given issue. Not this year.

 ‘Anti-educator’ bill clears Senate committee as hundreds of Florida teachers and school faculty testify against it 

As far as Senator Victor Torres is concerned, the message was loud and clear.

“There’s no way I’m gonna support this bill,” he said. “Because you heard the testimony from different counties, from different sections of the state opposing this bill.”