Scott Says Election Process Must Change
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Governor Rick Scott hit the airwaves Wednesday morning to address changes he wants to see in the voting process after the state's disastrous Election Day last month.
"People are frustrated in our state," Governor Scott told CNN's Soledad O'Brien. "Some of our counties, we have very long lines, you know, we've got to reach a confidence in our election."
On Election Day 2012, voters in Miami-Dade had to deal with a 12-page ballot which combined with the overwhelming turnout, led to massive delays at most polling locations. Some voters waited hours to cast their ballot, with the last polling location closing after 1 a.m. the following day.
The problems were compounded by a move by the state legislature to limit the number of early voting days in 2012, which caused large delays in early voting and pushed more voters into voting on Election Day.
"We need more flexibility, we need flexibility in the size of polling locations and we need to look at the number of days of early voting we had," Scott said.
Scott chose not to increase early voting days as his predecessor Governor Charlie Crist did during the 2008 election cycle. When asked how much of the blame he should hold and whether he should have changed some things during the election cycle, Scott laid blame on the legislature saying his hands were tied.
"I complied with the law. We had an election bill that was passed my first year in office by the legislature and approved by the Justice Department," Scott said. "So I complied with the law and when you are governor, you have to comply with the law, that's what I did."
Scott continued, "We do need change. We need to have a bipartisan group come together, Republicans and Democrats, and say we have to improve this, restore the confidence of all Americans in the election process in Florida."
