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Florida bends voting rules in counties hit by Hurricane Michael

The state is also going to make it easier for people displaced by the storm to receive and send ballots by mail.
Credit: GREGG NEWTON/AFP/Getty Images
Instructions in both English and Spanish on how to vote are affixed to a booth inside a polling station in Christmas, Florida prior to the arrival of voters on election day, on November 8, 2016.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida is going to bend some of the voting rules for voters living in counties hammered by Hurricane Michael.

Governor Rick Scott announced Thursday that eight counties in Florida's Panhandle can start and end early voting beyond existing deadlines. Normally, early voting is supposed to end the weekend before the election.

The state is also going to make it easier for people displaced by the storm to receive and send ballots by mail.

Hurricane Michael roared ashore last week and left a trail of ruin for 80 miles, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Georgia state line.

Previous: At a Category 4, Hurricane Michael is strongest storm ever to hit Florida Panhandle

Under Florida law, Scott could have postponed the election beyond Nov. 6, but there's is an open legal question on whether that authority would extend to federal races.

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(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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