Friends and supporters of Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old Florida woman who waited hours to vote, sent over these pictures today. Ms. Victor got invited to the State of the Union this week, as an example of the endurance test faced by thousands of people trying to cast a ballot in November. When Ms. Victor got back to Miami, a crowd of friends and supporters was there to greet her.
That same day, Florida Governor Rick Scott did a press conference about new jobs, and while there he got asked what he was going to do to improve voting in his state. Scott said he thought the state needed to limit the size of the ballot, give elections supervisors more authority to increase the number and size of polling places in their counties, and one more thing. From Orlando Sentinel video:
Third, we need to look at the number of early voting days. I proposed that we give our supervisors the option of between eight and 14 days, up to 12 hours a day, and allow them to do the Sunday before the Tuesday election. Because let’s think about it: All of us want people to come out vote. We want them to vote. We want them to feel comfortable — of course we want their vote to be counted. I’m proud that I fought last year to get the SAVE database*, to know Florida citizens’ votes are not going to be diluted by somebody that never had a right to vote in our state.
But look, this is what we proposed. I’m optimistic that the legislature will pass this, and hopefully pass it early in this session.
And with that, the reporters were thanked for coming and the conference was over — no time for asking why it was that Governor Scott cut early voting from 14 days to eight in the first place, then refused to extend the time despite the eight-hour lines.
*See: Governor Scott’s voter purge.
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