On the same afternoon a judge extended Florida's voter registration deadline by a day due to Hurricane Matthew, key Democratic leaders urged USF students to vote — and encourage others to do so — given what's at stake in November.

More than 20 USF students gathered in a small room at the Tampa campus's Marshall Center to hear from Planned ParenthoodAction Fund president Cecile Richards, a close ally to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, as well as U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, also a vocal Clinton supporter.

Getting people registered to vote in time is crucial in Florida in particular they said, given that it's the biggest swing state in the country and tends to determine the winners of presidential elections.

“This is critical," Castor said. "Florida is always close. And Florida will likely decide the election. And that means it's going to decide the kind of country that we are. Let me tell you, we have a battle on our hands.”

Given the timing of their visit, it was easy to get the (mostly female) audience fired up. After all, it was only three days since GOP nominee Donald Trump was embarrassed by leaked footage of him using vulgar terms to describe his unwanted sexual advances on women. It also directly follows a presidential debate in which Trump was widely declared the winner simply because he did not implode onstage. 

Richards and Castor stressed to the students, many of whom were armed with stacks of voter registration forms, how different a Clinton presidency would be from a Trump presidency, namely how less accessible healthcare would be to women and the impoverished under Trump.

They said it's crucial for people aged 18 to 35, especially in Florida, to go to the polls.

“You are the biggest voting group in the country," Richards said. "Millennial voters are going to determine who the next president is…and the Millennial voters that are going to matter the most are here in Florida…There is no route to the White House without going through Florida and without going through the I-4 corridor. Your votes are disproportionately important in the outcome of this election.”

It's also important that young people pay attention to down-ballot races, Richards said, given the stark contrasts between candidates that's on display in contests like the one between incumbent Republican U.S. Senator from Florida Marco Rubio and his opponent, Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter.

“That's a race that is getting increasingly close and one to pay attention to,” she said.

The deadline for registering to vote in Florida had been Tuesday, but that has now been extended to Wednesday at 5 p.m.

This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2016.