Judge Oversteps Florida Governor to Extend Voter Registration by 6 Days

By Kira Lerner, ThinkProgress

12 October 16

Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the deadline as Hurricane Matthew hit.

federal judge on Wednesday extended voter registration by six days in Florida. The ruling is a win for the state Democratic Party, which filed suit after Gov. Rick Scott (R) forced over a million people to evacuate for Hurricane Matthew and then refused to change the registration deadline.

The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by the state Democratic Party, which argued that there is a “strong likelihood” that many voters would be “severely burdened” by the hurricane.

Judge Mark E. Walker agreed with state Democrats and Marc Elias, general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, extending the deadline until Tuesday, October 18.

“It has been suggested that the issue of extending the voter registration deadline is about politics. Poppycock,” Walker wrote. “This case is about the right of aspiring eligible voters to register and to have their votes counted. Nothing could be more fundamental to our democracy.”

The court had previously extended the deadline by one day (from Tuesday to Wednesday) and scheduled a Wednesday hearing to consider this further extension.

As the category three storm approached his state, Scott denied the Clinton campaign’s request to give state voters additional time to register in-person or by mail.

“Everybody has had plenty of time to register,” he told reporters. “I don’t intend to make any changes.”

By evacuating the storm, many Floridians missed the last possible weekend to register for the upcoming general election. Florida does not have same-day registration?—?the state senate passed a bill to enact it last year, but it will not take effect until October 2017 because Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner (R) said he would not be able to implement the tool in time for the 2016 election.

While Scott denied the request in Florida, elections officials in South Carolina immediately extended the state’s voter registration deadline last week.