"A joke."
That's what former Governor Charlie Crist says Florida became after new voting regulations put into place by his successor Governor Rick Scott.
During a U.S. Senate committee hearing today looking into problems at the polls during the 2012 elections, Crist criticized Governor Scott for signing a new law reducing early voting days.
"Florida, which four years earlier was a model for efficiency, became once again a late night TV joke," said Crist. “Voters who wanted to vote early were frequently subjected to lines that were 3 to 4 hours. And as Governor Scott refused to take action to ease the lines, in some cases the lines extended to six and seven hours."
Just a few hours before Crist spoke in Washington, Governor Scott admitted that the voting law was partly to blame for the Florida's election issues this year.
During an interview with CNN this morning, Scott says Florida needs to look at limiting the length of its ballot and giving local election officials more flexibility in determining the size of polling sites.
As it turns out, Charle Crist's Senate testimony and Rick Scott's television appearance came just hours after the release of a new poll suggesting that Scott’s re-election chances could be in jeopardy.
The Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters in Florida found that 52 percent say he does not deserve a second term. Only 36 percent of voters surveyed approve of the job Scott is doing.
The poll also shows that Charlie Crist has a 47 percent favorable rating. Crist was elected as a Republican and then turned independent. He became a registered Democrat last week.
