A whirlwind of children motor around the yard, up the stoop and down to the fence flanking Twelfth Street South. Perched at the eye of the storm is Patricia Smiley. She hugs one tired toddler on her lap, a granddaughter who, in about 15 years, will be lectured by her grandmother about the importance of voting.
Smiley's own parents were voters. When she turned 18, they made sure she did the same, and as far as Smiley can recall, she's cast a ballot in every major election. When the time comes, she continues the family tradition. She gets on the phone, dials each of her seven children and reminds them to visit the polls.
"It's important because I want my vote to count," Smiley said. "My vote might mean a different president or an amendment change."
Smiley is typical of Lake Maggiore, a pocket of state House District 55 in which 80 percent of voter-age African Americans are registered. The area between Fourth and 16th streets, Fifth and 45th avenues South is unique to the rest of District 55, where the number of voter-age African Americans hovers at 68 percent.
Activists such as Darryl Rouson, president of the St. Petersburg NAACP, say voter apathy in District 55 is a problem. He identifies the district, which encompasses sections of Pinellas, Manatee and Hillsborough counties, as the "Southside Battleground." Looking at Lake Maggiore as a model for the larger fight could be one plan of action.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 65 percent of voter-age Americans were registered nationwide in 2000. Seventy percent of voter-age, non-Hispanic white people were registered; 64 percent were non-Hispanic black; 34 percent were Hispanic and 30 percent were Asian and Pacific Islander. Although District 55's registration of non-Hispanic blacks is higher than the national numbers from four years ago, local activists are not satisfied.
Vyrle Davis, chairman of the local African American Voters Research and Education Committee, said though voter apathy still exists, the revitalization of neighborhood residential areas and businesses around Lake Maggiore may have encouraged participation. He said neighborhood associations in that area are particularly fixed on getting people invested in community issues.
There is no one reason why this slice of District 55 has particular success in luring people to the polls. The right to vote means different things to different people. For Alex Hughes, voting represents victory over a history of deprivation.
"I make it my business to be sure I vote," Hughes said. "It's been a long fight with a short stick, and I'm gonna continue that because it's my right as a citizen."
For Kyle Mincey, voting is a chance to endorse his current passions and future needs.
"They wanted to take away affirmative action, Medicare and Social Security," Mincey said. "That may not exist if I reach the age of 65. Being the party that I am, I may have a chance to support those things."
Voting makes Bill Graveley feel represented. Voting gives Levonia Freeney a chance to "lift her head above water," because she says taxes are keeping her down.
Sixty-seven percent of registered African-American voters in the Lake Maggiore area voted in the 2000 election. Forty-four percent of registered African American voters in the Pinellas County portion of District 55 voted in the 2000 election, lower than the nationwide turnout by African Americans (54 percent). Overall, 55 percent of all registered voters cast ballots in the 2000 election.
Some experts think the campaign process distances potential voters. Thomas Patterson was the co-director of the 2000 Vanishing Voter Project at Harvard's John F. Kennedy Business School. The project surveyed 1,000 Americans about their involvement in the election process. The results were published in Patterson's book, "The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty."
In it, Patterson suggests that "modern campaign techniques are a turn-off for some citizens who otherwise have an interest in public affairs." Among other things, he also suggests that big campaign events are "frontloaded." With major debates and conventions coming well before November, people simply lose interest.
Other studies have shown that it's simply difficult to vote. Polling places change location. People don't trust the machinery.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida reports 600,000 disenfranchised felons in the state. To vote again, felons must have their civil rights restored by obtaining a full pardon or conditional pardon from the clemency board, which includes the governor.
That process can take months, said Winnie Foster, director of the Sojourner Truth Center on Sixteenth Street. One of the center's projects is to help ex-felons with their applications for restoration. Foster said that although they won't be able to receive pardon before the 2004 election, she encourages them to distribute voting literature, participate in phone banks and help "get out the vote."
This is just one of the center's possible contributions to a massive collaborative effort being formed by more than 15 civic associations, religious organizations and political groups in District 55.
On June 26, 50 representatives from these various groups gathered at the Enoch Davis Community Center to discuss what is now being dubbed, "Collaborative Plan for an Historic Vote in South St. Petersburg."
While the number of untapped African-American votes in District 55 had the participants alarmed now, four goals will drive them forward during the next four months: voter education, registration, restoration and reactivation.
"It is our objective to mobilize as many of votes as possible, regardless of party ticket," Rouson said. "To us, the number who choose is more important to our long-term development as a community than the one chosen."
Gypsy Gallardo, president of The Development Company, hatched the idea three weeks prior to the gathering. She and several others compiled a working list of initiatives. It included ongoing registration drives, educational street teams, a media campaign, restoration of rights to ex-felons and a "victory concert," which would offer any registered voter under the age of 25 free admission to the concert of a national recording artist.
Each participant was encouraged to fill out a partner form and sign on to the collaborative cause. The next step is to meet in the coming weeks to develop a top-to-bottom organizational structure.
They have 120 days to register as many District 55 voters as they can, said Sheila Turner, a pastor representing Foundations of Faith. Just 120 days, she said, to rouse the sleeping giant.