A worker from the Miami-Dade Elections Department helps a woman with information about her voter registration in Miami. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images Federal judge swipes at Scott’s political ‘poppycock,’ extends Fla. voter registration deadline Democrats hope for longer extension after Wednesday morning hearing in federal court

TALLAHASSEE — Dismissing Gov. Rick Scott’s claims as "poppycock," a federal judge Monday extended Florida's voter-registration deadline by at least 24 hours so as not to disenfranchise Hurricane Matthew survivors who wanted to sign up to vote in the nation’s largest swing state.

Florida Democrats sued Scott — the chairman of Donald Trump’s super PAC — and his top elections official on Sunday because they had refused to extend the deadline. Scott said people had enough time to register by Tuesday’s deadline.


“Look, this is, this is politics,” Scott said when asked about the political ramifications of his decision, the Democrats' lawsuit points out.

Bristling at Scott’s claim, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ordered a temporary extension of a day — which he could extend further after a Wednesday hearing he set. The judge also indicated that some of Florida’s voter registration laws might be unconstitutional.

“It has been suggested that the issue of extending the voter registration deadline is about politics. Poppycock,” Walker, an appointee of President Obama to the Northern District of Florida, wrote. “This case is about the right of aspiring eligible voters to register and to have their votes counted. Nothing could be more fundamental to our democracy.”

“We are thrilled with today’s ruling and we look forward to making our case on Wednesday for extending the voter registration deadline to October 18th,” said Florida Democratic Party chair Allison Tant in a statement. "This is a win for the people of Florida.”

On Tuesday, the day after the judge's decision, Scott's office released a statement emphasizing that the state did not have the power to extend the deadline and that it would comply with the order.

"The State will follow the court’s decision and discuss with the Legislature possible amendments to current law during the upcoming legislative session,” said Jackie Schutz, the governor’s communications director, in a statement sent to the media.

The ruling could have a profound effect on the national race for the White House as well.

Without carrying Florida, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can’t win the race for president. And though Democrat Hillary Clinton is nudging slightly ahead in the swing state, her campaign desperately wants every voter it can get.

That’s where voter registration drives come into play in Florida, where Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters — minority, young and poor people — tend to register in greater numbers than Republicans and conservatives in the days leading up to the deadline to sign up to vote.

In 2012, more than 156,000 people registered to vote in the final days of October before the registration deadline, and about a fifth of the registrants were Republicans, according to statistics tabulated by Daniel A. Smith, a University of Florida political science professor who studies Florida’s voter rolls.

“The weekend before the voter registration deadline is the key time to register voters,” said Smith, noting it’s the easiest time for canvassers to find people at home or out shopping. “The weekend is the final surge for voter registration but it was the final surge of Matthew that wiped out the final weekend of this surge. So the judge did the right thing.”

Hurricane Matthew began bearing down on the state Thursday, prompting a wave of government office closures that began all the way from Miami-Dade in the south to Jacksonville in the north on the border with Georgia. Postal service was also stopped, preventing people from putting voter-registration forms in the mail. Widespread power outages and storm damage on the central and north coasts over the weekend also conspired against voter-registration efforts.

“These voters have already had their lives (and, quite possibly, their homes) turned upside down by Hurricane Matthew,” the judge wrote. “They deserve a break, especially one that is mandated by the United States Constitution. Ensuring that they can exercise their constitutional right to vote thus promotes the public interest.”

It’s unclear if the judge, however, will extend the deadline beyond Wednesday.

The Florida Democratic Party, in conjunction with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, wanted the deadline extended an extra week to October 18.

The Democrats’ lawsuit says Floridians in storm-affected areas are being unfairly and unequally denied a chance to register to cast ballots, in violation of the Voting Rights Act, and the First and Fourteenth Amendment. The suit pointed out that people had likely evacuated after Scott had issued dire warnings that told people to leave.

“This storm will kill you,” Scott said at one point. “Time is running out.”

Democrats also noted that Scott’s Republican counterpart in South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley, extended voter-registration deadlines in her state.

Scott, who has had a history of limiting voter-registration efforts and early voting that tend to be used by Democrats, said people had their chance to register.

“Everybody has had a lot of time to register,” Scott said last week when asked about the deadline extension. “On top of that, we’ve got lots of opportunities to vote: Early voting, absentee voting and Election Day. So, I don’t intend to make any changes.”

Judge Walker singled out Scott for that as well, saying any suggestion that the right to vote isn’t severely burdened because people can vote early or by mail or on Election Day is “a nonsequitur. Those options are available only if the voter has already registered.”

Though he rebuked Scott, Walker said the governor “does not appear to be a proper party” to the suit and that “it appears … Scott lacked the authority to extend the deadline.”

The judge ruled that Scott’s appointee, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, “is a proper party” to the lawsuit given that his office is so closely connected to enforcing election laws.

Under Florida law, Walker notes, "there is no provision that extends the voter registration deadline in the event of an emergency such as provided for a suspension or delay of the election date."

He went on to write that more than 100,000 eligible Florida voters were likely to have registered to vote in the final week of voter registration.

"Because those aspiring eligible voters could not register, they could not vote in the upcoming election," he wrote. "As a result, Florida’s statutory framework completely disenfranchises thousands of voters, and amounts to a severe burden on the right to vote.”

Walker viewed the case as pitting the "fundamental right to vote against administrative convenience."

The judge was skeptical that the state could say much to convince him the statute is constitutional, saying: “Even assuming that the State of Florida could point to a valid compelling interest (and this Court doubts that it can), it is nonsensical to argue that it is narrowly tailored to that interest. Florida’s statutory framework fails strict scrutiny and is therefore unconstitutional.”

Further, he wrote that because "Florida’s statutory framework is unconstitutional under any test that could apply,” Democrats were likely to win the case on the merits.

Walker wrote that it didn’t make sense to extend the registration deadline to only those counties affected by the storm when the current law’s construction appears unconstitutional.

"That unconstitutionality is not limited to those in the areas most affected by Hurricane Matthew,” he wrote. "It extends to the entire State of Florida.”

Read the federal judge's order here: http://politi.co/2dGNt1G

UPDATED at 1 p.m. Tuesday with a statement from Gov. Rick Scott's office.