Thursday marks the 24th day a group called the Dream Defenders has been camping in and around the governor’s office at the state capitol. Their efforts to get Governor Rick Scott to call a special legislative session on the 'stand your ground' law have failed so far. But the House of Representatives plans to hold a committee hearing on the controversial statute in the fall.
On Thursday, the Dream Defenders announced they'll start focusing their efforts on getting more people to register to vote. Young and minority voters generally turn out in smaller numbers during non-presidential election years.
The Dream Defenders’ Phillip Agnew says the only way their demands will likely be met is by changing who holds elected office.
"We intend to register the people who are forgotten: the black, the brown, the indigent, the poor, the LGBTQ community", Agnew said. "We’ll meet them where they are, in their classrooms, at the mall, in the club."
The Dream Defenders say their goal is to register an additional 61,550 voters by next year, when Scott is up for re-election. Not coincidentally, that's the number of votes Scott won by in 2010.