Byron Donalds is the Republican nominee for governor of Florida. If he wins in November, he will be the first Black governor in the state's history.

On August 26, 2026, a group called Equal Ground — which works to expand Black voting power in Florida — asked every candidate for governor where they stood on the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Florida Voting Rights Act. Donalds answered the same day, and the answer was no.

Who the bill is named for

Harry T. and Harriette Moore founded a chapter of the NAACP in Brevard County in 1934. Harry spent years driving Florida's back roads signing up Black voters; together they organized a Progressive Voters League, investigated lynchings, and fought for equal pay for Black and white teachers. Black registration in Florida climbed from 5% of those eligible to 31%.

On Christmas night 1951 — their 25th wedding anniversary — a bomb went off under their bedroom. Harry Moore died on the way to the hospital. Harriette died of her injuries nine days later. Despite a nationwide outcry and a massive FBI investigation, no one was ever arrested.

The bill carrying their names was written by the late state Senator Geraldine Thompson and is carried this year by Democratic Senator LaVon Bracy Davis and Representative RaShon Young.

What Donalds said

Here is his objection, in full:

"This proposal would make Florida's elections look more like California's, and it takes them a month to count ballots. Why would we do that?"

Florida Politics, which reported his statement, noted the problem with it two paragraphs later. The bill does not change the requirement that ballots be received by supervisors of elections by the time polls close on Election Day.

The Moore bill leaves Florida's Election Day deadline exactly where it is, so whatever California does, this bill does not import it.

The reason Donalds gave for opposing the bill describes a change the bill does not make.

What the bill actually does

The proposal makes several changes to Florida election law:

• Makes vote-by-mail requests permanent. Under current law one request covers only the elections through the end of the next general-election year, so voters have to ask again every couple of years.
• Creates a public database so people with past felony convictions can keep track of what they still have to do before their voting rights are restored.
• Makes Election Day a paid holiday.
• Eliminates the Office of Election Crimes and Security.

None of those touch the counting deadline. Three of the four are about making it easier for an eligible person to cast a ballot that gets counted.

"The best election laws in the country"

Donalds' other line was this: "Florida has the best election laws in the country, and we're going to make sure we keep our elections secure."

Equal Ground's founder, Jasmine Burney-Clark, framed the ask this way: "For generations, voters of color have fought against laws and systems that were intentionally designed to keep them from the ballot box."

The group said it sent its questions to every gubernatorial candidate. Democrat David Jolly signed a petition committing to pass and sign the bill if elected. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature. The bill does not move without Republican votes, and it does not become law without a governor willing to sign it, which is why the Republican nominee's answer is the one that counts.

The pattern on his record

This is not the first time Donalds has taken a position on who gets counted. He joined a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 census count; a federal court dismissed it twice. And he has said he would remove elected local officials who cross him on immigration enforcement — after Florida's own attorneys told a judge that cities are not required by law to sign the ICE agreements he would punish them for refusing.

What the record shows

Byron Donalds, running to become Florida's first Black governor, refused to support a voting rights bill named for two Black organizers, a husband and wife, killed by a bomb at their home in 1951 after years of registering Black voters. His stated reason was that the bill would make Florida take a month to count ballots like California. The bill does not change Florida's ballot deadline at all. What it would change is permanent vote-by-mail, a public database for people restoring their voting rights, a paid Election Day, and the elimination of the state's election crimes unit.

Source

Jacob Ogles, Florida Politics: "Citing election security, Byron Donalds says he won't support Florida Voting Rights Act" (August 26, 2026).