The nonpartisan League of Women Voters became the latest group on Tuesday to file a legal complaint against Florida Gov. Rick Scott for his refusal to extend voter registration in the largest battleground state in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign had urged Scott to extend the Oct. 11 deadline for Florida residents to register to vote by one week after hundreds of thousands of potential voters were forced to evacuate the state, thus limiting the time they would have otherwise had to complete the voter registration process.
“Everybody has had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we’ve got lots of opportunities to vote: Early voting, absentee voting and Election Day. So, I don’t intend to make any changes,” said the Florida governor in a statement announcing his rejection of the request last Thursday.
Scott and Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner were challenged by the Florida Democratic Party in a lawsuit filed on Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, a federal judge extended the voter registration deadline until the lawsuit could be heard in court.
Attorneys representing the League through New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice requested in the separate suit on Tuesday that Florida officials extend the statewide voter registration deadline until Oct. 18.
“Decades of experience tell us that the days leading up to the deadline – including the weekend – are the most crucial part of the registration calendar, and we have lost precious time,” Pamela Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said in a statement.
“Extending the voter registration deadline to make up for the days lost to Hurricane Matthew is the only way to give every Floridian who lives in the path of the hurricane an equal chance to participate in this year’s elections,” she added.
The Florida Democratic party has a court hearing for its lawsuit scheduled for Wednesday morning. The party has reportedly submitted 488,000 voter-registration forms already, while Republicans have submitted about 60,000.
