Val Demings speaks at voting event at Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center

Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Val Demings of Florida headlined the "Get Out the Vote" event held Friday at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center in southeast Gainesville.

The event provided local residents a chance to listen to Democratic candidates before the Nov. 8 general election that will feature local, state and federal races.

Dozens attended the event at the museum at 837 SE Seventh Ave., which was organized by Gainesville City Commissioner At-Large Cynthia Chestnut.

Chestnut, a former chair of the Alachua County Democratic Executive Committee, is  also president of the Visionaires Club, one of the oldest Black women's clubs in the county that has existed for 84 years.

“We felt that it was very necessary to get the message out,” Chestnut said. "So much is happening in Florida that impacts a lot of us.”

Demings is running against incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Miami.

Demings, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., said voters should be as courageous as the founders of the Divine Nine. The Divine Nine is comprised of fraternities and sororities mostly founded on the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities with unique core values and common goals that include educating and uplifting the Black community from racial inequities.

“They had courage,” Demings said. “They were bold, intelligent and they refused to be denied. Let’s remember who we are and what we are fighting for. When we use our feet and our voice, we have the power to do anything.”

Demings talked about the perseverance of women during the women’s suffrage movement and Blacks during the civil rights movement in the U.S., and she encouraged the audience to keep that same tenacity in the upcoming election.

“The right to vote is precious,” Demings said. “Our nation is not perfect and we’re still working to form the perfect union and hold America up to its fullest potential.”

Take the right to vote as serious as the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis

She recounted the experience of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, when he and over 600 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, while marching to Montgomery, the state's capitol city, to ensure that Blacks could exercise their constitutional right to vote.

The march became known as "Bloody Sunday" after the demonstration ended with violence when marchers were beaten by state troopers and sheriff’s deputies. The march directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that is federal legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in voting.

“He knew he was going to get beat down or lose his life but he was not discouraged,” Demings said. “He believed that every person had the right to vote. He said we had to vote like we never voted before.”

Demings also talked about healthcare, public education and gun regulation.

“We have to stop innocent people from being killed in innocent places,” Demings said. “We must remove dangerous weapons from the hands of dangerous people.”

Other speakers included AuBroncee Martin, who is running for a judge seat in the Eighth Judicial Circuit against Sean Brewer; Harvey Ward, a term-limited Gainesville City Commissioner who is running for Gainesville mayor against former GRU general manager Ed Bielarski; incumbent Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell who is running for his third term and is opposed by Van Elmore and Anthony Johnson; incumbent Alachua County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler who is facing off against Ed Braddy, a former mayor of Gainesville; DeJeon Cain, who is running for the Gainesville City Commission District 3 seat against Casey Willits and Patricia Lee, who is on the ballot for Alachua County Soil and Water Conservation Commission along with Janice Vinson.

Crystal Bowser attended the event to hear more about the candidates’ policies.

Bowser said she has been a poll worker for five years and it is a person’s civic duty to vote.

“It helps me to continue the work of those who came before me,” Bowser said. “So many died for our right to vote. We need to get out and vote because our future depends on it.”

Vivian Filer, founder and chair of the CCMCC, said that when people vote in November, they must bring more people along with them to the polls.

“We have to make sure to take people with us,” Filer said. “It’s more important now than it ever has been to vote.”

To request a vote-by-mail ballot, call 352-374-5252 or visit the Elections Office at 515 N. Main St. between 8:30 a.m.-5 p..m. Monday through Friday. You can also request a ballot by mail by mailing Supervisor of Elections, 515 N. Main St., Suite 300,

Gainesville, Florida, 32601. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ball is Oct. 29, and all ballots must be returned

Vote-By-Mail ballots are usually mailed to U.S. residents between 40 and 33 days before Election Day or, if requested later, within two business days after you make your request. Please allow for sufficient time for the Post Office to deliver your ballot. However, if you haven't received your ballot within a reasonable period, you should check with the Elections Office. Voters are encouraged to contact the Elections Office at 352-374-5252 or by email at votebymail@alachuacounty.us. Don't wait until the last week before Election Day to contact the Elections Office because they may not be able to mail you a ballot at all.

Before you return your ballot, be certain to seal it in the return envelope provided and sign the voter's certificate on the back of the envelope. Most voters choose to return their voted ballot by mail. Voters may also choose to return their voted ballot sealed in the signed return envelope to the Elections Office in person, or have someone else deliver it to the office. Vote-By-Mail ballots may not be dropped off at the voter’s precinct on Election Day. All Vote-By-Mail ballots must be received in the Elections Office at 515 N. Main St. by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Voters may also return their vote-by-mail ballots to any early voting site during early voting hours or to the white, secure dropbox (hours TBD), located outside the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office, 515 N. Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601.

Early voting will be from Oct. 24 to Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The early voting locations are:

• Supervisor of Elections Office: 515 N. Main St.

• Millhopper Branch Library: 3145 NW 43rd St.

•Tower Road Branch Library: 3020 SW 75th St.

• Orange Heights Baptist Church:16700 FL-26 in Hawthorne.

• Legacy Park Multipurpose Center: 15400 Peggy Road in Alachua.

• J. Wayne Reitz Union: 655 Reitz Union Drive, UF Campus.

• Alachua County Agriculture and Equestrian Center: 23100 W Newberry Road in Newberry.

On Election Day, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are not sure where your assigned polling location is, go to VoteAlachua.com or call 352-374-5252.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: U.S. Sen. candidate Demings speaks at Cotton Club Museum in Gainesville