Gov. Ron DeSantis

September 27, 2023 - Republican lawmakers nationwide have introduced 400 anti-voting bills this year, while in Congress, GOP leaders have introduced an omnibus elections bill that would nationalize voter suppression. In response, Democratic lawmakers have reintroduced key federal voting rights legislation to expand voter protections and counter the attacks on the freedom to vote.

January 27, 2023 - Republican state lawmakers across the South are creating harsh new penalties for even minor voting infractions — an effort that advocates worry could curb the surge in electoral participation the region has experienced in recent years.

October 27, 2022 - A new report from the Sustainable Investments Institute found that most Fortune 250 companies' spending on politics over the last two election cycles benefited candidates, committees, and parties that favor restricting abortion rights. It also found that the companies spent the most in the South, where 10 states now ban abortion.

September 14, 2022 - As deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Volz was a leader in the fight to pass Amendment 4, which returned the right to vote to over a million Floridians with past felony convictions. He talked with Facing South about Florida's ongoing attacks on returning citizens, mobilization for the midterm elections, and the future of the movement to end felony disenfranchisement.

June 22, 2022 - Soon Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will have appointed a majority of justices on his state's Supreme Court, just as it considers striking down precedents guaranteeing abortion rights. He's considering a judge who'd bring to the court sorely needed gender and racial diversity — but not ideological diversity.

May 20, 2021 - Following an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results by far-right extremists, Republican lawmakers have introduced measures in Southern states and elsewhere across the country that could open the door to partisan election interference and vote manipulation.

March 24, 2021 - In the wake of historic Black Lives Matter protests, Republican lawmakers in Southern states have introduced two dozen bills this year that could lead to new criminal charges for protesters — even peaceful ones. Most Southern states already have at least one such law on the books.