In the midst of Hurricane Matthew, Florida Gov. Rick Scott will not extend the voter registration deadline.
“I’m not going to extend it,” Gov. Rick Scott told reporters in Tallahassee. “Everybody has had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we have lots of opportunities to vote: early voting, absentee voting, Election Day. So I don’t intend to make any changes.”
Clinton’s team had asked for more days earlier, after Democratic-leaning political groups said they had to cancel planned registration drives in the last frenzied days ahead of the deadline because of the storm. Tuesday is the last day for new voters to sign up ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Scott is letting his privilege show again. There are lots of people who don't have ample free time to get registered—which is why we have registration drives. Millions of people have evacuated, hundreds of thousands—including, presumably, elections offices—are without electricity. The cleanup effort will take weeks. Which is why even the South Carolina Election Commission is extending the deadline for registration there.
History also amply demonstrates that the last week of voter registration is robust in Florida, as University of Florida professor Daniel A. Smith, who studies Florida voting trends, points out. In 2012 about 50,000 people registered in the last five days before the October 8 deadline.
Voter registration drives have been cancelled, including a radio station's plans in Miami, as well as weekend drives at "Florida International University and Miami Dade College, as well as at several high schools." The National Council of La Raza has suspended its voter registration canvas in Orlando.
This weekend would have been the last major push for registrations, which is precisely what Rick Scott—who had the time to take calls from Trump backers New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry Thursday—doesn't want.
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