This is ghastly news. Please take heed Florida, we simply can’t lose the elections over something like this. Educate your friends and neighbors that it might be best to take advantage of early voting instead of voting by mail this year. If voting by mail is your best choice, please check (and double check) your mail-in ballot and envelope for accuracy.
Steve Boucet writes, highlighted a recent report published by the University of Florida, in the Miami Herald which found that mail-in votes cast by younger voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail-in ballots cast by white voters. These same voters are also the least likely to correct any problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors that there was an error, the study found.
The study was completed at the request of the ACLU, due to the civil rights organization’s concerns about Florida’s “uncertain history in election administration.”
The key finding from the ACLU study is this: Mailed ballots (commonly referred to as “Vote by Mail” or VBM) have had a higher rejection rate than votes cast at assigned precincts on Election Day and at Early Voting sites.
The report further notes that Florida counties do not use standardized coding when documenting the reasons for Vote by Mail “ballots to be initially rejected, processed, or cured.” That just sounds really easy peasy for a rogue county elections clerk to toss votes and not get caught.
A friend commented about his experience on the link that I shared to Facebook. After reading the story and worried his vote would not count, went to the Broward Elections office in the hopes of finding out if everything was okay with his registration. And sure enough, the clerk told him that his mail-in ballot would have been rejected due to a signature mismatch. The signature on his registration is somewhat similar to how we sign a receipt when we pay by debit card (most of us in Florida register for the first time at the Department of Motor Vehicles when we register our car); my signature usually looks like a wiggly line when I sign. He had the clerk use a signature that was more readable in comparison to the driver license.
I vote in person always, but those who vote by mail should either consider voting in person or confirm with your county clerk that all is in order with your signature and ballot—and don’t forget to sign the envelope when you mail it back.
The report comes as voting by mail continues to expand in popularity in the nation’s third most populous state. Two years ago, 29 percent of all ballots cast in the presidential election were cast by mail — 2.7 million out of about 9.6 million ballots — and election experts say the rate may be higher this November.
Four percent of all mail ballots cast by voters ages 18 to 21 were rejected, but only 0.5 percent of mail ballots were tossed out that were cast by voters 65 and over, Smith’s study found.
In 2012, African-Americans cast 9.4 percent of all mail ballots, but black voters cast 14 percent of all rejected mail ballots.
The rejection rates of mail ballots varied widely from county to county in 2016, the study found.
Smith noted that Miami-Dade County had one of the highest rejection rates in 2016 at about 2 percent (Broward was about 1.5 percent). Orange County was the highest at almost 4 percent
Please share to all Florida voters that you know. We need every vote to count. All voters who choose to VBM should take the extra steps to track their mail ballot and, if there is a problem with the voter’s signature, to use the cure process to ensure that their vote is counted and their voice is heard. If your ballot was rejected because your signature was missing on the return envelope or it does not match the signature on file, you are permitted to mail, fax, email, or hand-deliver to your SOE your signed affidavit, along with a copy of a permissible form of identification. Click here for more step-by-step instructions on how to ensure your vote-by-mail ballot counts. The report’s principal findings are below. Mail ballots (commonly referred to as “Vote by Mail” or VBM) have had a higher rejection rate than votes cast at assigned precincts on Election Day and at Early Voting sites; There is a lack of uniformity in the Vote by Mail process as well as procedures to cure invalid ballots across Florida’s 67 counties, leading to considerable variation in rejection rates and cure rates by counties; Younger and racial and ethnic minority voters were much more likely to have their VBM ballots rejected, and less likely to have their VBM ballots cured when they are flagged for a signature problem; Younger and racial and ethnic minority voters casting VBM ballots were at least twice as likely as older and white voters to have their VBM ballot rejected in the presidential elections of 2012 and 2016; The likelihood of younger and minority voters casting a mail ballot that was rejected increased in 2016 compared to 2012 while the rejection rate of VBM ballots cast by white voters decreased; Florida voters were more likely to have their vote tabulated and validated if they cast their ballot in person at an Early Voting site or at their assigned Election Day polling location.