While on the air Tuesday morning, Gov. Rick Scott showed his support for the federal judge who a day earlier denied a preliminary injunction against the states early voting rules sought by Congresswoman Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and a number of other African-American and Democratic leaders.
The right thing happened, Scott said on WOKV AM 690 Jacksonville.
Judge Timothy Corrigan didnt outright toss Browns request, leaving the door open for opponents to continue their opposition, but he moved any court action to after this years general election.
Corrigan stated the plaintiffs failed to show there was any intent to discriminate in his ruling as the new law will not impermissibly burden the ability of African-Americans to vote.
Scott wouldn't say if the lawsuit was a waste of money or if the early voting rules will help President Obama or Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. But Scottdiscounted assertions by Brown and other Democrats that the changes were part of actions to make it more difficult for minorities, who tend to vote Democrat, to get to the polls.
Because of this early voting law we have a 52 percent increase in early voting between 2008 and 2012," Scott said. "What is key is they extended the hours in any one day so people who work early or late can vote."
Brown, expressing disappointment in the court ruling, released a statement claiming the Republican Party of Florida will continue to do everything possible to deny people the right to vote and make it as difficult as possible for Florida residents to get to the voting booth.
"I think it is evident that early voting has worked extremely well for African-American voters. In fact, more than any other racial or ethnic group, African-Americans have come to rely on early voting, and I am sure they will do so again this year. I will work to do everything I can to ensure that the system works smoothly for all voters, Brown stated in the release.
"I am very encouraged that most large counties, including Duval and Orange, will have 96 hours of early voting and I call on all county supervisors to implement 12 hours of voting on all eight days allowed under the new law. There is simply no reason not to do that if we are serious about wanting people to participate in democracy. Certainly, we should be making it easier for our citizens to vote, not harder.
Brown intends to hold a voter registration drive Tuesday at the Duval County supervisor of elections' office and another event on Sunday with Al Sharpton, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The legislative changes reduced the number of early voting days from 12 to eight, but allowed hours to be extended on a daily basis as the total number of hours for early voting remained at 96. The new rules also require early voting on two Saturdays and a Sunday.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice gave the final approval for Florida's new eight-day schedule of early voting in five counties -- Hillsborough, Monroe, Collier, Hardee and Hendry --under federal civil rights supervision.
Both parties have until Dec. 14 to decide how to proceed.
We are very pleased to have yet another court give its full approval of Floridas new early voting schedule, Secretary of State Ken Detzner stated in a release Monday night.
We have always believed that the new hours will favor Florida voters, and we are confident voters will approve of the new hours as well once they experience the benefits of the new schedule. Floridas new early voting hours offer more flexibility to vote before and after work, more weekend voting hours and guarantee a day of Sunday voting.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
