“Vote for Vernon”

In this post, we amplify the mission of the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee and connect it to the work of artist Jessica Ingram.
 
 
In 2018, For Freedoms commissioned Jessica Ingram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Art, to participate in the 50 State Initiative.

Vote for Vernon, Jessica Ingram, 2018. Follow Professor Ingram on social media @jessingram1.

From Jessica Ingram’s book Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial:

Vernon Dahmer was murdered on January 10, 1966, in Kelly Settlement, outside Hattiesburg, Mississippi, when Klansmen firebombed his home and attached store. Dahmer was the president of the NAACP chapter in Hattiesburg and a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Dahmer led the local fight for voting rights and helped Black voters in Forrest County by letting them pay their poll taxes at his store. He was often quoted as saying, “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.” On January 9, 1966, he offered to pay Black voters’ poll taxes on the radio. The next day his home and store were bombed.

Weeks later, his voter registration card arrived. He was murdered for helping Black people vote, and never got to cast a ballot himself.

Voting remains one of our most important civic duties. In partnership with the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee, MoFA encourages your participation in the 2020 election.

Image provided by Dennis Howard, LWVT.

To Make Your Voice Heard, Take These 3 Important Steps NOW!

STEP 1: To register to vote, update your registration, or check your status, go to: https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/supervisors/ to find your county’s Supervisor of Elections (SOE). For Leon County, go to www.leonvotes.gov.

STEP 2: Request your vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot from your Supervisor of Elections (SOE) IMMEDIATELY after step 1! NOTE: If you give different residence and mailing addresses on your registration, your SOE is in the county of your residence.

STEP 3: Read ALL of the League’s Voting Guide to be fully informed.