Gov. Scott dodges WFTV's questions regarding Election Day criticism

ORLANDO, Fla. — Some Florida counties were still counting ballots Thursday afternoon as President Barack Obama held on to a small lead in the presidential race.

Long lines and long ballots slowed down the count in Florida, and Channel 9 tried to get answers from Gov. Rick Scott about what he's going to do to keep a similar incident from happening again.

When WFTV asked Scott if he had any regret about cutting early voting days, the governor wouldn't answer the question, despite repeated attempts to get a yesor no answer.

But he said several times he did the right thing.

Hundreds of people stood in line, waiting three to four hours to vote in some counties, including Orange and Osceola.

County election officials blamed long ballots and short budgets, but some voters said part of the problem was that the governor refused to extend early voting.

Typically, early voting is open for 14 days before the election, but this year, voters were only allowed eight days to vote early, and critics said it was politically motivated.

Despite the criticism still pouring in, the governor wouldn't admit that it was a mistake to cut down on early voting days.

"People are upset. They feel like you put politics before the people of the state of Florida," Channel 9's Daralene Jones told Scott.

"The right thing happened," he said. "Four-point-four million people came out and voted, either absentee or early. On Election Day, we had 20 times as many polling locations than we did on early voting, so we did the right thing."

Channel 9 asked the governor when we can expect to find out whether Obama or Mitt Romney won Florida, and he couldn't say.

WFTV