Record turnouts and hours-long waits at most of Florida’s 267 early voting sites, led the state’s Governor Charlie Crist to issue an executive order to extend early voting hours statewide to 12 hours a day, declaring that a “state of emergency” exists.

Crist invoked the state’s Elections Emergency Act during his announcement Tuesday afternoon, saying: “I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote.”