Rick Scott won't extend Florida voter registration because of hurricane
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is refusing to extend Florida’s voter registration deadline, even as Hurricane Matthew continues to batter the state’s coast, leaving thousands without power and inundating the area with “life-threatening” rains.
“I’m not going to extend it,” Scott, a Republican, said during a press conference in Tallahassee Thursday evening. “Everybody’s had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we have lots of opportunities to vote -- early voting and absentee voting -- so I don’t intend to make any changes.”
When a reporter pointed out that absentee ballots were being mailed out this week and the storm could stop some from voting early, the governor responded that “it’s not like you have just one day in our state” to vote.
“You’ve got a lot of opportunities to vote, so it won’t have an impact,” Scott said.
On ABC News Friday morning, the Florida governor was asked his motivations for not extending the Tuesday deadline, the way South Carolina -- another coastal state expected to get battered by the storm -- has.
“Look, this is, this is politics,” Scott said. “I mean, right now I’m focused on getting -- I’m getting this done. I’m focused on saving everybody’s life. The biggest issue for me is I want everybody to survive this.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign had pushed for an extension in the key battleground state, campaign manager Robby Mook said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.
“The one thing that we are hoping and expecting is that officials in Florida will adapt deadlines to account for the storm,” Mook said. “Our hope would be that a little bit more time will be given for people who were expecting to be able to get registered before the election...We certainly expect that the governor and local officials will make that possible.”
Clinton herself tweeted about the Hurricane Thursday, urging people to “evacuate if you’re told to.”
On MSNBC Thursday, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, said she and the state’s congressional delegation would write a letter to Scott asking a deadline extension for next Friday.
“It’s clearly the responsible and essential thing to do, we have people who have been expecting to have a few extra days before that deadline to register to vote,” she said. “That’s the most fundamental right we have is to be able to register and cast our ballot to select our leaders and, you know, I certainly hope Gov. Scott will reconsider.”
The deadline to register to vote in Florida is Oct. 11.