Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » NAACP Demands Early Voting Extension

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

NAACP Demands Early Voting Extension

August 20th, 2012 by flanews

Black leaders are calling on Governor Rick Scott tonight to use his executive powers and extend early voting. A controversial 2011 law cuts early voting from 12 days to eight. As Whitney Ray tells us, a federal court issued an opinion last week saying cuts to early voting will keep many African Americans from casting a ballot.

The message was clear at this impromptu gathering in Governor Rick Scott’s office Monday.

“We want him to commit to expanding and increase early voting,” said State Senator Arthenia Joyner.

Joyner, the NAACP and other black leaders demanded a meeting with Scott, to ask him to restore early voting to 12 days. A Scott aide told the crowd, the governor was too busy at the moment, but a future meeting was possible.

“I can’t get you in with the governor right now, but I just wanted to come out and say I’m happy to set something up as soon as I can,” said Jon Costello, Legislative Affairs Director.

The calls to extend early voting come after a three judge panel said cutting early voting from 12 days to eight would hurt black turnout. The judges decided, the state isn’t allowed to scale back early voting in five federally protected counties.

Those counties are Hillsborough, Monroe, Collier, Hardee and Hendry, but the rest of the state will continue to see its early voting days capped at eight, because of a 2011 state law. The NAACP says if Scott doesn’t act people will be waiting in long lines to cast a ballot.

“You look at the lines on Election Day. We at the NAACP are up there all the time watching, because we get to see the long lines. We see the people get disgruntled,” said Dale Landry with the NAACP.

Joyner says there are strong political undertones to the scale back.

“It’s quite obvious that none of this occurred until Barack Obama was elected president,” said Joyner.

Defenders of the new law say it’s needed to prevent voter fraud. They also point out that even though the number of days are cut the number of hours remain the same.

The judges gave the five protected counties the option to host eight days of early voting… as long as the polls were open 12 hours each day… for a total of 96 hours, which is the maximum allowed by the new state law. Reportedly four of the five preclearance counties will opt for the eight day option.

Posted in State News | No Comments »

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com