Bringing ID Help to Florida Voters with Community Events

In Florida, VoteRiders is teaming up with the Orange County government and community-based organizations to meet as many voters as possible where they already are. Through these collaborations, VoteRiders is able to get voters the ID help they need ahead of the state’s primary elections this summer and November’s general election. VoteRiders’ Voter ID Clinics aim to make ID assistance services as accessible as possible by hosting events in local neighborhoods in partnership with trusted local groups. And now, for the first time since the pandemic started, VoteRiders is holding these events in person!

As part of a National Voter ID Month of Action, on April 30 VoteRiders partnered with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to organize an “Impact Homelessness” event that offered one-on -one ID assistance to attendees. This festive day-long community resource fair also included free showers, haircuts, and employment counseling. At this event, more than 30 citizens received free help from VoteRiders to get a state-issued ID, along with any and all underlying documents such as a birth certificate or Social Security card. In addition to being needed for voting, ID is often a barrier to obtaining housing and employment for unhoused individuals.

Two weeks later, VoteRiders once again teamed up with the Orange County government to bring a similar event to the Maxey Community Center in Winter Garden. Other partner organizations involved in this event included the Hispanic Federation, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, the Legal Aid Society, and a local staffing agency. The goal of this event was to provide preliminary assistance to Winter Garden residents with various social service needs ranging from help identifying job opportunities to potential housing. For VoteRiders, this included helping order birth certificates and social security cards, and scheduling DMV appointments.

Community collaboration helped drive the success of the event, with VoteRiders receiving a helping hand from its community partner, Hope CommUnity Center, in obtaining volunteers from its staff. Three staff members from Hope CommUnity Center were present during the event to assist with social security card applications, birth certificate applications, and the check in process. Prior to the event, Hope CommUnity Center Manager Zandell Johnson and Maxey Community Center staff member Danykqua Faulk worked with VoteRiders’ Florida Coordinator Jazlyn Gallego to pass out hundreds of flyers in the Winter Garden community a week before the event to raise awareness of it and drive broad-based participation. This included canvassing at local supermarket plazas and apartment complexes.

During just these two events, nearly 100 individuals received crucial information about the voter ID law in Florida and VoteRiders’ services, and 60 more received free ID help from start to finish – and are now newly-prepared to cast a ballot that counts in this election year and beyond!

VoteRiders – along with its ever-growing network of partners in Florida and trained volunteers – will be holding many more of these events in the coming weeks and months.

To assist with a Voter ID Clinic in your area or get involved virtually, sign up to volunteer at: VoteRiders.org/Volunteer.

To obtain help with ID or voting-related questions, call or text the VoteRiders Helpline at 844-338-8743.