Long voting lines in Florida blamed on reforms

>>> debate over fixing our election system . extra long lines, delays, frustrated voters put the state of florida . joining me now is the supervisor of elections for leon county florida . thanks for being here.

>> my pleasure, craig.

>> going to call your attention to the "new york times" story that i'm sure you saw.

>> yes.

>> florida has the nation's longest voting lines. last november it took people on average 45 minutes to vote. some folks reported waiting in line for up to three hours in the sunshine state . what happened?

>> well, what happened was that in 2010 the republicans were allowed to elect a majority that went beyond the normal majority, and the super majority allowed the republicans to pass legislation without even consulting the republicans or anyone, and the legislation that was passed by the republican leadership in 2011 was simply nothing more than a voter suppression attempt. i think everyone sees that now, and it backfired. it backfired in two ways. one, it did fire up the minority community, both latino and african-american in america and the second mistake it didn't succeed so the republicans in the state of florida have egg on their face and at this point we're seeing a lot of cooperation in really restoring the older system of elections which allowed us to operate more successfully from 2006 to 2008 .

>> i want to get your insight on whether mandatory photo i.d. checks at the polls and cutting back on early voting in florida , for instance, do they hamper or help the election proses?

>> well, the florida legislation actually didn't change photo i.d. we've had that since 2006 , but we don't have a very, very controlled photo i.d. you can use multiple forms of i.d. and you don't need a birth certificate, for example, us a do in indiana, so the early voting legislation really did impact on us. we lost about a quarter of a million voters that normally would have voted early that couldn't get in in the constricted timetable, and that is one of the major reasons we did have lines. and so we're seeing even the governor, governor scott now, saying we need to restore 14 days of early voting to the citizens of florida , so it's going to be a major legislative fight this senassion. the senate is more willing to undo these egregious reforms but i don't know about the house. the house in the state of florida is much more ideological, craig, and they are going to resist.

>> as are most houses across this country and in d.c. as well. always good to see you, leon county florida supervisor elections. thank you.