Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the state’s voter registration deadline after a request from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Oct. 6.
Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, called on Scott, a strong supporter of Republican nominee Donald Trump, to extend the registration past the Oct. 11 limit, saying Hurricane Matthew’s destruction could interfere with residents to register in time.
“The one thing that we are hoping and expecting is that officials in Florida will adapt deadlines to account for the storm,” Mook said in a conference call with reporters. “Our hope would be that a little bit more time would be given for people that were expecting to get registered before the election.”
Scott, whose state is under a state of emergency, said he had decided not to extend the deadline.
“I’m not going to extend it,” Scott said during a press conference in Tallahassee that same day. “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.”
A journalist then noted that the weather would affect early voting, as absentee ballots were being mailed out this week. Scott responded saying, “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,” he added.
South Carolina, which is also under a state of emergency, extended the deadline.
