"Condoms and Cones": How Gen-Z Is Getting Florida's Youth to the Polls

Gen-Z Floridians want to connect with fellow young voters about critical issues — and what better way to do that than with rubbers and rolling papers?

Following yesterday's momentous dual Florida Supreme Court decisions, which ruled that both recreational weed legalization and abortion rights protections will be on the November 2024 ballot, student-led political action committee Florida Future Leaders kickstarted a unique campaign to mobilize youth to the polls later this year.

On Monday, the group began doling out the emergency contraceptive Plan B, rolling papers, election education materials, and condoms with the text, "Don't Get F*cked by the GOP. Protect Abortion in Florida," in which the "U" in "Fucked" is  supplanted with an elephant, a symbol of the Republican Party.

"With two critical issues — the right to choice and marijuana — both being on the ballot this year, we have a real opportunity to shape the electoral landscape here in Florida through the youth vote," Florida Future Leaders chair Jayden D'Onofrio tells New Times.
Launched in February, Florida Future Leaders is a state PAC that recruits high school and college-age progressives to help engage young voters and flip political offices blue in Florida. While there are enough young Democrats to flip key seats across the state, the group explains, the problem is simply getting young people to vote.

D'Onofrio, a 19-year-old studying political science at Tallahassee Community College, says the PAC is entirely youth- and student-led. ("This isn't your parents' organizing," the group's site asserts.)

The PAC raised $100,000 within its first month of fundraising last year, according to Florida Politics.

"Our biggest thing is we want to engage youth, but we're doing youth engagement through youth," D'Onofrio says. "It's youth organizing youth, and youth leading youth."

According to a Tufts University study of the 2022 midterm election, Florida had the sixteenth highest youth voter turnout rate among U.S. states, with a 22.4 percent voter turnout between ages 18 to 29. Michigan saw the highest youth turnout in the country at nearly 37 percent, with Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, and Colorado following in that order.

"We've seen in the past in Florida a complete lack of youth organizing efforts, especially efforts that are led by youth themselves," D'Onofrio says. "Florida Future Leaders completely bridges that gap."

The PAC plans to hand out the materials at Florida Atlantic University, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, University of Central Florida, and other campuses until November.

D'Onofrio said in a press release that their distribution of items like condoms and rolling papers is "not just about celebration."

"It's about education and empowerment," he said, claiming his group is providing "tangible reminders to youth voters that these are the exact items Republican lawmakers wish we did not have."