Extended Hours for Florida

Genuine kudos to Charlie Crist. Via the Miami Herald:

Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday extended early voting hours across Florida to 12 hours a day.

The executive order comes after record early voting turnout has contributed to long lines at polling sites.

Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours a day each weekday and for a total of eight hours during the weekends.

With Crist's order, early voting sites will be open the rest of this week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They will be open a total of 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday, the last day of early voting.

''It's not a political decision,'' Crist said moments after signing the order, which declares a state of emergency in Florida. "It's a people decision.''

Republicans, who get very nervous when they hear that Americans are voting in large numbers, are less enthused. From Politico's Ben Smith:

He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me.

Nice work.