US judge extends voter registration date in swing state

NEW YORK

Judge in Florida on Wednesday extended voting registration for a week until Oct. 18 in the largest battleground state in defiance of Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

The Democratic Party sued Scott after he refused to extend the window to register for the Nov. 8 presidential election, saying he did not have the authority to do so and believed it was unnecessary.

“Everybody has had a lot of time to register,” the governor said, dismissing the argument that the deadly Hurricane Matthew would cause Floridians to miss the registration period.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court Sunday, the Democratic Party said not extending the deadline would constitute a violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

A state of emergency was declared in Florida as Matthew approached and Scott warned residents to “evacuate”. Government offices and postal service were shut down, hindering voter registration.

Scott has dismissed concerns his decision not to extend the deadline may be tied to his endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Scott also heads a political action committee that broadcast advertisements in support of the Republican nominee while criticizing Democrat Hillary Clinton.

With a population of nearly 20 million people, Florida is the fourth largest U.S. state and the largest where the two major parties have similar levels of support, so the outcome here could have a major impact on whether Clinton or Republican Trump would be the next president.

In 2012, more than 156,000 people registered to vote in the final days of October before the registration deadline, and nearly 80 percent of the eleventh-hour registrants were Democrats, according to data compiled by Daniel A. Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Florida.

Hurricane Matthew has left more than two-dozen people dead in the U.S. as it battered southeastern states of Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. Once a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean, where it caused major devastation, the hurricane has now been downgraded to a post-tropical storm but continues to pose a risk of storm surges and flooding.