The republican party is going to any lengths to make it more difficult to vote, that says it all...
Florida voter registration won’t be extended; judge rips state
By GARY FINEOUT 10/09/2020
TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge declined to extend Florida‘s voter registration deadline, but not before ripping into Republican officials over the state’s repeated problems handling elections.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued his ruling early Friday, less than 24 hours after holding a testy two-and-a-half hour hearing during which he upbraided lawyers representing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee, both Republicans.
Walker called his decision an “incredibly close call,” but said he didn’t wan‘t to issue an order that would overwhelm local election supervisors less than a week before a presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that’s expected to have record turnout.
“Florida’s interest in preventing chaos in its already precarious—and perennially chaotic—election outweighs the substantial burden imposed on the right to vote,” Walker wrote.
Seven civil rights and voting rights groups sued to extend the state’s Oct. 5 deadline after the online registration portal crashed on Monday amid heavy traffic. Lee extended the deadline until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, but she did not announce that decision until midday Tuesday.
The plaintiffs called the move inadequate and said it failed to give would-be voters enough notice. The groups wanted the deadline extended by two days.
Walker said that if state officials had not extended the deadline — which he termed a “half measure” — he would have stepped in. And his decision didn’t stop Walker, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, from upbraiding the state for its “failures.”
“This court notes that every man who has stepped foot on the Moon launched from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida,” Walker wrote. “Yet, Florida has failed to figure out how to run an election properly—a task simpler than rocket science.”
more:
http://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/10/09/florida-voter-registration-wont-be-extended-judge-rips-state-1322859
DO SOMETHING!
| 