Florida Gov. Rick Scott won't push back voter deadline due to Matthew

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he will not extend his state's voter registration deadline, which is Tuesday, despite the evacuation of 1.5 million people due to the threat of Hurricane Matthew.

Scott, a Republican, was asked by Hillary Clinton's campaign to push back the deadline, which under Florida law he can do in the event a state of emergency is declared. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency Thursday evening.

Scott said he would not extend the deadline because individuals have had "a lot of time to register."

"The voter registration deadline in Florida is October 11th and our hope would be that a little bit more time will be given for people who were expecting to be able to get registered before the election and we certainly expect that the governor and local officials will make that possible," said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

Asked about the request during a press conference, Scott declined.

"I'm not going to extend it, if you, whether it's the registration date, you've had, everybody has had a lot of time to register," Scott told reporters. "So on top of that we got lots of opportunities to vote, early voting, absentee voting and Election Day, so I don't intend to make any changes."

Several groups targeting college students and minorities, two groups friendly to Clinton, had been planning a final push to get people registered this weekend. Storm evacuations put those plans on hold.