A 9 Hour Wait to Vote? That's Not Right.

Voting is a right but for too many Floridians, casting a ballot took far too long and may even have been impossible. After Governor Rick Scott reduced early voting, the lines were incredible, many waited several hours to vote.

On the Sunday before Election Day, Miami-Dade County shut down voting hours early because the lines were just too long for them to handle. Then, to add to the indignities, 180 people who tried to vote got their cars towed from the parking lot.

There were problems outside of South Florida, too. Voters in Tallahassee, Hillsborough and Duval Counties waited hours to vote, causing traffic snarls and other problems. On Election Day, one man near Fort Myers even lost his job after he was forced to wait three hours in line to exercise his right to vote.

And those were just some of the worst stories. Many other people silently, uncomplainingly waited in line for far too long. This early voting mess was created by Governor Scott. In 2008, Florida had 14 days of early voting but Governor Rick Scott shortened that to only the final eight days. Even when numerous Supervisors of Elections warned of problems and urged Scott to allow more early voting, he ignored them.

These problems were avoidable and we call on Governor Rick Scott to expand the early voting system, so that we aren't forced to wait in line for hours to exercise our right to vote.