Voters, apparently, can find their way to thepolls
— when real issues motivate them. Issues and hot elections drive
turnout. The length of the early-voting period — now eight days —
matters less. Previously,
election supervisors could offer up to 14 days of early voting. That
was changed in 2011 to eight days. State officials said 367,000 people
took advantage of early voting in the Aug. 14 primary. In the August
2008 primary, 240,000 voters cast ballots early, over more days.

…On Wednesday, Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP won a battle in federal court, when Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general, said he would accept the state’s eight-day early voting plan
in five counties that the federal government regulates because of past
racial discrimination. Those counties are Monroe, Hillsborough, Collier,
Henry and Hardee. Because of the federal regulation, those counties
were exempted from new rules in August — but they now have to follow
most of Florida’s 2011 election law. …

The
Justice Department is asking the state to still offer 96 hours of early
voting, in the eight days, which Scott plans to do. Scott’s plan also
has voting on a Sunday that previously did not have voting, according to
the Associated Press.

A report released Aug. 31 shows the Department of Defense could not reach about half of 219 required voter assistance offices, prompting an angry letter from Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act cosponsor Sen. John Cornyn

“Results were clear. Our attempts to contact IVAOs failed about 50%
of the time,” the inspector general reported. “We concluded the Services
had not established all the IVAOs as intended by the MOVE Act because,
among other issues, the funding was not available.”

The estimated cost of establishing functioning IVAOs at all overseas
military bases not in combat zones is estimated at between $15 million
and $20 million a year. We wasted $530 million on Solyndra but can’t
afford a relative pittance to ensure our soldiers are not
disenfranchised.

Investors.com link to full story.   Ouch.

Guilty.  Of voter fraud.  Yet the North County Times thinks it’s relevant to point out that

Despite accusations often leveled during or after elections, proven cases of voter fraud are exceedingly rare, according to several studies and reports.  A policy brief by the New York University School of Law’s non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice said that voter fraud is “essentially irrational” and “a singularly foolish way to attempt to win an election”… Many instances of alleged voter fraud are later discovered to be simple clerical errors.

Ignore the facts – the Brennan Center says voter fraud is “irrational” so how could it occur?  Or maybe it was just a “clerical error.”   

Denying the fraud even while reporting it.

..[Deputy state attorney general Jeffrey] Thompson, however, said the groups have misinterpreted the rule. By
eliminating access to the federal database, the likelihood increases
that the state will mistakenly challenge citizens’ right to vote. He
also noted that the emergency rule would only be in effect for this
election cycle. After November’s election, Schultz’s office will solicit
public comment and adjust the rules if needed, he said.   Link at the Des Moines Register