Maddow: Just outrageous from FL Governor Rick Scott. 5 hr lines, no interest in fixing the problem

[flamingdem]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott not likely to extend early voting hours

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/02/4263448/florida-gov-rick-scott-not-likely.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

Rachel Maddow MSNBC ?@maddow

Just outrageous from FL Governor Rick Scott. 5 hr lines already, and no interest in fixing the problem: http://is.gd/G2XB8G

** People hire proxies to stand in line



Citing long lines, a former Miami Beach state senator, the Florida Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters of Florida urged Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday to extend early voting.

But don’t expect the effort to go anywhere.

Top Republican officials in Tallahassee said Thursday an extension isn’t needed. And in Miami-Dade, the county with the longest lines, the office of Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a Republican who appoints the elections supervisor, said he has no plans to ask the governor for more time.

The likely result: more long lines for early voters and long lines for Election Day voters on Tuesday.

Other early glitches have been reported, too. Some Broward voters have seen delays in receiving their absentee ballots; the county elections supervisor’s office says every voter who has reported a missing ballot has been mailed another one.

One Broward voter encountered an unexpected wrinkle: She was purged from the voting rolls because she hadn’t voted in so long and because she didn’t respond to certified mail that warned her she would be removed because she had been so inactive, according to the elections office.

But the focus remained on in-person early voting, where voters are still facing three-hour waits at some Miami-Dade polling sites.

More than 3 million Floridians had voted early or by mail through Wednesday evening. Democrats lead in early voting, while Republicans hold the edge in absentee voting.

Between the first day of early voting Saturday and Wednesday, Broward averaged more than 28,400 voters a day. Miami-Dade averaged more than 26,300.

Among the early voters Thursday was Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, who drew a crowd when he cast his ballot at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami.

But he didn’t have to wait in the hour-long line. He had a proxy stand in his stead, as allowed under election rules. more at link

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/02/4263448/florida-gov-rick-scott-not-likely.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

[sharp_stick]

1. I'll put money

on there being absolutely no lines in any of the repuke territories.

It's an age old method in the South to put the shitty voting machines and way fewer of them in the black areas. That way the machines fail, the lines get long and eventually hundreds or thousands of voters give up and go home.

[flamingdem]

2. This is one of the first things that needs addressing after Nov. 6th

How can partisan appointees decide the distribution of voting machines?

[TheKentuckian]

13. A decade or two past time

But it would be nice if we aren't having the same worries next time but I tend to think we will because I don't believe either major party is really interested unless focusing on this works as a distraction from other issues they want to deal with less or from some other shenanigans.

[onethatcares]

11. It would be nice to go to the Villages

and see how long the lines for cocktails while waiting for a machine are.

You can believe it's a short wait

[young but wise]

3. I still can't believe this bastard is my governor.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

4. Is there anything that can be done to make the wait more enjoyable?

Like all the celebrities that live down there. If they want to help, why not show up
and go up and down the lines encouraging voters and letting them know how much
they are appreciated.

Wish I knew some famous Dems in Florida.

[flamingdem]

5. How about Rick Scott doing a striptease

sorry..

[EmeraldCityGrl]

8. That would guarantee a mass exodus.

[flamingdem]

12. Not if a Bath Salts consumer attacked him

Then people would stick around.. I mean to help!

[Supersedeas]

6. from the State that put Catherine Harris in charge of voting in 2000

[HooptieWagon]

7. Perhaps peep will be motivated to vote him out in '14.

The main reason he got elected was turnout was poor in '10.

[denverbill]

9. How is this not a violation of the Voting Rights Act? Or the Equal Protection Clause?

[trayfoot]

17. EXCELLENT POINT! I totally agree!

[lpbk2713]

10. Scott thinks Bloomberg has all the luck.

Scott would have used power outages, downed utilites in the streets, flooding
etc to keep people in the poorer neighborhoods in their homes on election day.
And of course the more upscale neighborhoods would have been restored right
away regardless of the expense and trouble involved.

[flamingdem]

14. Being covered on MSNBC now - Rev. Al's show

He had Charlie Christ on.. seniors are in line all day

[WillyT]

15. K & R !!!

[flamingdem]

16. It's criminal to make the seniors stand in line all day!

They are doing it because they know Election Day will be worse I bet.

It's important to remember that some people like to go to the polls. It's a ritual. Not everyone is going to mail their ballot.