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Dems File Lawsuit Over Mail In Ballot Signature Requirement

October 4th, 2016 by flanews

If you requested an absentee ballot for next month’s election, it’s likely on its way to you today. But as Matt Galka tells us, Democrats are trying to prevent some ballots from getting thrown out.

They’re not letters to Santa but Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho was like a kid on Christmas Tuesday.

“We are sending out the largest number of mail ballots we have ever sent out,” he said.

More than 25,000 thousand vote by mail ballots were going out in Leon County. Almost 2.4 million state wide with the numbers representing a trend of votes coming in before the traditional election day. But even with the options…Sancho doesn’t expect the traditional in-person polls to go away.

“I think that we probably won’t see the complete elimination of voting in person, because voting in person is the most secure way to cast a ballot and have it counted as you intended,” he said.

And these ballots are going out one day after a lawsuit was filed challenging a state signature requirement.

The issue – if the signature on your mail in ballot doesn’t match your John Hancock from when you registered…your vote won’t count.  Sancho says it’s an issue for younger voters especially.

“Those individuals that registered as seniors in high school, by the time they’ve graduated from college, that signature will have changed. There are no more hearts over the “I’s” for example,” said Sancho.

The Florida Democratic Party Filed the lawsuit.  Part of their complaint reads that thousands of voters are being disenfranchised by a “standardless system” which fails to give them the opportunity to cure their ballots.

 

If someone were to forget to sign their ballot entirely…they could verify their identity with their supervisor of elections office up until the day before the election.  If a signature is believed to be mismatched…the affected voter isn’t given the same opportunity.

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