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Judge extends Florida registration deadline after Hurricane Matthew

Lawsuit prompts voter registration deadline
Posted at 7:09 PM, Oct 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-11 05:42:14-04

Floridians have one more day to register to vote after a Federal judge ruled to extend the deadline date on Monday. 

The ruling comes after the Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against Florida Governor Rick Scott and Ken Detzner claiming Hurricane Matthew prevented people from registering to vote during the storm. 

According to a court order filed Monday at the US District Court in Florida's Northern District, judge ruled to extend the deadline from Tuesday to Wednesday at 5 p.m. 

Lori Edwards the Polk Co supervisor of elections says the storm didn't affect their registration numbers. 

While they were forced to close their headquarters on Friday, they opened on Saturday. 

As of Monday, the county received more some 50,000 more registered voters than they had during the 2012 presidential election. 

"A little bit busier than I expected to be honest with you," said Edwards. 

John Barber just moved to Florida from Vermont two weeks ago.

He and his wife have yet to find a permanent home, but didn't want to miss out on registering. 

"I've never missed an election since 1964," he said. 

HIllsborough Co. registered voters increased by more than 85,000 in the last four years. 

Pinellas by some 8,000. 

Registrations can also be mailed out, so long as it's postmarked by the deadline date.