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Rep. Kathy Castor urges USF to create early voting site

The action follows a judge's decision that struck down a statewide early voting on campus ban as unconstitutional.
 
Published July 30, 2018|Updated July 30, 2018

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, wants the University of South Florida to create an early voting site on the sprawling campus. In a letter to USF President Judy Genshaft, Castor cited the length of the November general election ballot as one reason why early voting on campus would be a good idea.

"Voters need time to properly consider the entire ballot," Castor wrote.

Read Castor's letter here.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee last week ordered Gov. Rick Scott's administration to allow early voting on college and university campus. Walker found "a stark pattern of discrimination" on the part of Scott's chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, the named defendant in the case.

READ MORE: Judge rules Florida's early voting on campus ban was wrong

The lawsuit was brought by the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Andrew Goodman Foundation on behalf of six students at the University of Florida and Florida State University. They challenged a 2014 opinion from Detzner's office that prohibited the city of Gainesville from holding early voting at the Reitz Student Union building on the UF campus.

On Friday, Detzner complied with Walker's order by issuing a directive to Florida's 67 county election supervisors that his 2014 opinion was ruled unconstitutional.

Read Detzner's directive here.

Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer told the Times/Herald he's talking with USF officials about using the school's Marshall Student Center for early voting in the November election.