Florida Rep. Corrine Brown, a Democrat, blamed racism for a decision to move an early voting location out of a predominantly black community, a local NBC affiliate reported.
“It is a racial issue,” Ms. Brown said Tuesday after the Jacksonville City Council voted to move the Gateway Shopping Center elections office to the former Sears center at One Imeson.
“It is Jacksonville [being] its regular, racist self,” she said.
Jacksonville’s Supervisor of Elections said the reason for moving the Gateway office was to cut back on monthly expenses that exceed $57,000 at the location in question.
But some fear that moving the office will cut off minorities, many of whom rely on the bus system to vote early, the station said.
“People get confused there because they’re looking at we’re moving Gateway and it’s an early voting site, we must be moving early voting,” said Jerry Holland, Supervisor of Elections.
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Mr. Holland said that is not the case and that the Imeson location is merely an operations office.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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