The 2020 election is underway in Florida, with mail-in ballots being turned in and early voting starting this week. All year, we've been amplifying the voices of voters across the crucial I-4 corridor.
Here, we meet Myles Suber, a 60-year-old financial consultant from St. Petersburg.
“I’m a New Yorker who lives in Florida now. So, I'm a Floridian and I vote.
I’m a veteran, I defended this country and prepared to give my life for this country. The franchise is everything. That's how we decide things in America.
State and local decisions affect my life more than federal decisions. State and local are where the rubber meets the road. A perfect example: in Florida we voted for people who have been convicted of felonies to be reenfranchised, and the state has figured out a way to disenfranchise them.
You can't be a Black man and live in the skin I live in and not have felt racial injustice. And the coronavirus is just a manifestation of racial injustice. All you have to do is look at the data and look at the people who are dying.
I think I have more confidence at the municipal and state level than at the federal level, simply because the municipal and state hear from the people directly. They can see the damage directly. They're not in a bubble. They're not far away. It's people they know.
Last year at this time, I think we were gearing up for the impeachment hearings on President Trump. That was something that I really disagree with simply because he won the election. And whether you like it or not, he won. You can't put the toothpaste back into the container. The guy won the election. Elections have consequences.
Democracy means that everyone gets a voice. Everyone who gets a vote is counted. Whoever has the majority wins. I’m not saying it's the best system, but it's our system.”
WUSF’s Bradley George produced this audio postcard as part of America Amplified, a national reporting initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
