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Summary
On Wednesday, a District Judge Mark Walker decided to extend the voter registration in Florida for six additional days, to October 18. Hurricane Matthew has wreaked havoc on the Southeastern US for the past 7-10 days, effecting Florida in particular, so people haven't had that time to go and register. Originally, the people of Florida asked Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fl.) to extend the deadline, but he declined the request, claiming that people had had plenty of time to register already. Scott denied accusations that his refusal had anything to do with his support of Trump/Florida being a major swing state. Judge Walker also noted that he didn't think that Gov. Scott had the authority to use his power to change the deadline, but wasn't positive. Voting rights groups advocated for the extension, noting that many people registered right before the deadline in 2012. This whole issue happened because Florida doesn't let voters register online, only in person, and a category 4 hurricane makes that hard to do.
Questions
- What is the impact of this ruling on the election, seeing that Florida is a swing state?
- Was the decision to extend the deadline reached through fair methods and not through bargaining? Why or why not? (Note that the Democrats in Florida were major advocates of extending the deadline, and that their Republican governor opposed it)
- What should each Presidential candidate do in response to Hurricane Matthew? Will it matter in the overall outcome of the election?
- Do you agree that voters had already had enough time to register, or do you think that the deadline extension was a good idea?
The impact of this ruling on the election is that Florida residents will get more time to decide which candidate to vote for. Therefore, Trump, who is losing in Florida at the moment, has the ability to make moves and sway enough votes for him to take Florida. Since Florida is a major swing sate, this ruling could be huge in deciding who the next president will be.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the deadline extension was a good idea, but only for Florida. The fact that residents of Florida can only register in person, and registering to vote in person while there is a hurricane is incredibly difficult, it makes it fair. People need time to go vote once the hurricane has passed or is less intense. If there was no extension, voter turnout could of been noticeably low.
ReplyDeleteThe decision to extend the deadline was reached through fair methods. Although the people had asked for an extension, it was not granted until a justifiable reason was provided - the hurricane. As such, although the support and opposition against an extension was partisan originally, the condition in which it was actually extended was not related to partisan opinion,
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Florida is a swing state, and given the complications due to the Hurricane, I believe that it is imperative to rule this extension of voter registration. I believe this because voters in Florida need time to think about the important decision of who they want to vote for and it is hard to do so while dealing with a Hurricane...
ReplyDeleteI think voters had plenty of time to register, but each election we still tend to see that not a large percentage of communities do vote. Even if they take advantage of the extended registration period, the thing that really matters is voting, and if they don't register in the extremely long period of time that they're given by the government, how can we expect them to vote in a day (or within a month for mail-ins).
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