Welcome to

Voters in five Florida Counties (Hillsborough, Monroe, Collier, Hendry, Hardee) will have an extra four days of early voting than everywhere else in Florida. That’s because a Federal three judge panel says Florida can not reduce the number of days of early voting because the five counties have a history of discrimination.

In 2008, lines wrapped around early voting sites as half of all African Americans cast their ballots before election day. Then, In 2011, state lawmakers shortened early voting from 12 days to 8. But now, a panel of Federal judges has told the state five Florida counties under the voting rights act must have all 12 days of early voting. Dale Landry of the NAACP says the change sought to dampen African American turnout.

“You’ve got to understand that many of our folk, African Americans, they are working class people. So if you got more time, that gives us more time to get to the polls and vote” says Landry.

Statistics from this past Tuesday show that in the five counties with all 12 days of early voting, four of every one hundred who are registered voted early. That compares to just three of every hundred in the rest of the state.

Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho has been an outspoken critic of the fewer hours to early vote. He’s pushing his association to use the ruling to expand early voting in all 67 counties. “Equal protection demands that all voters in the state of Florida be treated the same” says Sancho.

The Secretary of States office spent most of the day reviewing the 119 page opinion from the Federal Judges. Spokesman Chris Cate says the state expectes to eventually win the early voting case, but for now “Five counties in Florida will still be operating under what is previous election laws”.

By Monday, Florida’s Elections Supervisors, as a group, will decide whether to seek longer early voting across the state.