South Florida residents looking to squeeze in one more election-eve gathering have a spot picked out: Las Olas Oceanside Park in Fort Lauderdale, where a free, nonpartisan rally called Vote for Freedom is set for Monday, November 2, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the night before polls open for the November 3 general election. Organizers say the event will bring together elected officials, labor leaders, community advocates and everyday residents for one last civic push before Election Day.
The rally was organized with participation from more than 70 South Florida organizations, according to Miami’s Community News, which describes the gathering as a nonpartisan election-eve event encouraging voter participation and civic engagement. The event's own site, wtpmarch.org, confirms the same window of 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Las Olas Oceanside Park and notes the We The People Coalition is behind the planning, with a stated goal of bringing together community leaders, elected officials, advocates, artists and residents from across the region.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with live music starting at 6 p.m. and the formal program beginning at 6:30 p.m., per the same event listing. The Deep-Fried Funk Band is slated to perform. Organizers say the rally will touch on how voting and elected leadership affect healthcare affordability, education, economic opportunity, civil rights, LGBTQ+ equality and social justice.
Who's Expected to Speak
The lineup of remarks includes elected officials, labor leaders and community advocates, according to the rally listing. Among those named: U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida's 25th Congressional District; Florida state Representative Ashley Gantt of District 109; Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco; TransInclusive Group Executive Director Tatiana Williams; and José Javier Rodríguez, a former assistant secretary of labor for employment and training. The We The People Coalition has said it does not endorse candidates.
Admission is free and the rally is open to the public, the event page notes. Accommodations will be made for people with disabilities, and the organizers list nearby street parking along with garages and lots near 100 SW 1st Ave and 150 SE 2nd St in Fort Lauderdale. Those tracking the event online can follow the social media handle @wtpmarch, and an RSVP link has been posted at bit.ly/wtprally.
Part of a Statewide Get-Out-the-Vote Push
The Fort Lauderdale rally lands amid a broader wave of mobilization efforts across South Florida as the Nov. 3 election nears, with candidates from both major parties and voter-outreach groups holding rallies throughout the region, according to WLRN. Republican officials held their own get-out-the-vote rally at the Westchester Regional Library in Miami-Dade on October 23, while UNITE HERE Local 355 paired with immigrant-rights groups for an Early Vote Party and Bus aimed at Latino voters. Equal Ground, meanwhile, planned an Oct. 25 rally in Miami Gardens as part of its Souls to the Polls effort to boost Black voter turnout.
Turnout numbers suggest the urgency behind all that organizing. Florida voters had cast nearly 2.8 million ballots for the Nov. 3 election by Oct. 26, after the first weekend of statewide early voting, according to WUSF. That included 1.38 million Floridians who voted early in person as of that Monday morning, among them just over 600,000 registered Republicans and roughly 505,000 registered Democrats, plus another 1.4 million mail-in ballots already returned statewide.
Those figures amounted to more than 20 percent of the prior midterm benchmark: Florida's 2022 election drew 7.8 million voters, or 53.8 percent of registered voters, per WUSF's reporting. The We The People Coalition has organized large civic gatherings before, having led the We The People National March at Esplanade Park in July 2023 in what it described as an effort to protect democracy.
