Early voting hours extended throughout Florida

This just in: Gov. Crist, after consulting with the secretary of state and members of the Florida Legislature, has ordered that early voting hours be extended to 7:00 am till 7:00 pm through Friday, then any combination of 12 hours during Saturday and Sunday*(12 hours all on Saturday, 6 each on Saturday and Sunday, or whatever). The order is effective immediately and covers the entire state.

Florida's congressional Democrats asked Crist last week to keep early voting sites open later and keep them open on Sunday after reports of voters waiting hours in line to cast their ballots since early voting began on extend the weekend hours.

More than 1.8 million Floridians - including more than 67,000 in Palm Beach County - had voted early as of 5 a.m. this morning, according to the state Division of Election's Web site.

But not everyone was pleased with Crist's demand.

Assistant Palm Beach County Administrator Brad Merriman, who has taken over as election supervisor, expressed shock at the governor's order.

With early voting now available from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., staff and volunteer poll workers are already working long days, he said.

Immediately after receiving news of the order, Merriman said he would meet with elections staff to determine how to carry it out.

And here I thought Republicans were only about suppressing the vote.

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* Counties vary as to availability of Sunday voting. We can vote on Sunday in Palm Beach but, for example, Martin, St. Lucie, and Brevard counties have not offered Sunday voting. This may change in light of the governor's order today.