Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) sent the following letter to Governor Rick Scott urging him in the wake of Hurricane Matthew to move the Florida Voter Registration Deadline from October 11th to October 14th. The letter was signed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. Alcee L. Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Theodore E. Deutch, Frederica S. Wilson, Alan Grayson, Lois Frankel, Patrick Murphy, and Gwen Graham.
October 7, 2016
Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001
Dear Governor Scott:
Thank you for your leadership and all of the hard work that you and state employees are doing to ensure the safety and security of Floridians as we prepare for Hurricane Matthew and related tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings.
We appreciate your steady communication with federal, state, and local leaders, as well as public health, transportation, and law enforcement experts, to ensure our state is fully prepared for evacuations, shelter openings, prevention of power outages, monitoring of fuel supply, search and rescue, and provisioning of resources and supplies.
As you have rightly cautioned our citizens, Hurricane Matthew is a life-threatening storm that Floridians must take seriously, or risk being killed by it. President Obama has officially declared Hurricane Matthew’s expected impact in Florida to be a federal emergency, and we will work with you to ensure Florida has the federal recovery resources and support we need.
Some of the potential impacts of the storm include structural damage to even the sturdiest buildings, which will be worsened by large airborne projectiles, and make some locations uninhabitable for months. In addition, we can expect trees to snap or uproot, rendering many roads impassable and causing widespread power and communications outages.
The federal government has further cautioned that surging and deadly winds are not the only areas of concern – major rainfall flooding can also be life-threatening, with rivers and tributaries rapidly overflowing their banks, causing flood control systems and barriers to become stressed, and escape routes to become submerged.
The bottom line is that Floridians do not and should not have anything on their minds right now other than keeping themselves and their families safe from what could be a historic Category 4 blow to a large part of our state. As a result, it will be logistically challenging and likely impossible for many who would like to register to vote to be able to do so before the impending deadline on October 11th.
We strongly urge you to extend the deadline for our citizens to register to vote in November’s election, at least from October 11th to October 14th. It goes without saying that our democracy is stronger when more people vote. With a natural disaster on our doorstep, registering to vote understandably will not be possible in the immediate aftermath of such a significant storm. Of course, clean up and dealing with storm-related damage will be many Floridians’ primary focus.
Therefore, we respectfully request an extension of the voter registration deadline so that we may ensure the franchise, the integrity of our democracy, and the rights we as Americans hold dear, are fully protected.
As elected officials, we must do all that we can to keep our citizens safe as well as safeguard the freedom of every individual to elect their representatives, from the state house to the White House.
Sincerely,
________________________
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Member of Congress
________________________
Alcee L. Hastings
Member of Congress
________________________
Kathy Castor
Member of Congress
________________________
Frederica S. Wilson
Member of Congress
________________________
Lois Frankel
Member of Congress
________________________
Gwen Graham
Member of Congress
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