Dream Defenders Launch Huge Voter Registration Drive

The Dream Defenders announced Thursday that they're launching a massive drive to register 61,550 voters by 2014, which is the same margin of votes Gov. Rick Scott won by in the 2010 election.

"We intend to register the people that are forgotten -- the black, the brown, the indigent, the poor, the LGBT community and we will meet them where they are, in the classrooms, in the mall, at the club, on the corner, at the bus stop" said the Dream Defenders Executive DirectorPhilip Agnewat a press conference Thursday.

Agnew said there was a need to "build power" so "when the time comes again for us to move on issues like the school-to-prison pipeline, like racial profiling, like Stand Your Ground, we don't have to sit on the floor again."

Thursday marked day 24 of the Dream Defenders' protest at the Florida Capitol, which has gathered attention from celebrities, civil rights activists and legislators from across the state and the nation. Protesters have been camped outside Gov. Scott's office since July 16 demanding a special legislative session to repeal the controversial Stand Your Ground law in Florida.

The protest began after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the death of Trayvon Martin. Stand Your Ground was not invoked in Zimmerman's defense.

Agnew said the group would protest in front of Scott's office for "as long as it takes."

"I think a lot of us would love to see what 40 days and 40 nights feels like," he said.