TALLAHASSEE, FL — Comparing Florida’s election to an NFL football game, a federal judge has found the state’s rules for rejecting signatures in mail and provisional ballots unconstitutional and ordered Florida election officials to give voters who were “belatedly notified they have submitted a mismatched-signature ballot” until 5 p.m. Saturday to correct the issue.
“In this case, the plaintiffs have thrown a red flag. But this is not football. Rather, this is a case about the precious and fundamental right to vote — the right preservative of all other rights. And it is about the right of a voter to have his or her vote counted,” penned Chief Judge Mark E. Walker in Thursday’s order.
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The ruling affects vote-by mail ballots and provisional ballots that were rejected in 45 of the state’s 67 counties based on a determination that the signatures on file didn’t match signatures on ballots.
“The supervisors of elections shall allow mismatched-signature ballots to be cured in the same manner and with the same proof a mismatched-signature ballot could have otherwise been cured before November 5, 2018, at 5:00 p.m.,” the judge wrote in his 34-page order.
The ruling comes on the same day that Florida supervisors of elections are facing a 3 p.m to complete a state-ordered machine recount in the case of the Florida Senate race, governor’s race and commissioner of agriculture race. If the results in any of those races are within a certain margin, state officials will order a hand recount.
Election officials in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties said they had finished the machine recounts early.
“Today’s decision is a victory for the people of Florida and for the Nelson campaign as we pursue our goal of making sure every legal ballot is counted,” said election attorney Marc Elias, who is representing the campaign of incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in a tightening race with Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signature on the envelope didn’t match the signature on file. These voters now have until the 5 p.m. Saturday deadline to turn in affidavits that include a copy of valid identification so that their votes will be counted. If so, they’ll be included in the final official returns, due from each county by noon Sunday.
The Scott campaign called the judge’s decision “baseless” and said it has already filed an appeal.
“The important word here is belatedly,” Scott’s campaign said, pointing to language in the judge’s ruling. “This is a tiny subsection of the approximately 5,000 signature mismatched ballots. Put simpler, this is a very small number of ballots.”
Walker’s decision does not directly affect the ongoing recount, which could stretch into the weekend. The election supervisor in the Democratic stronghold of Palm Beach County warned they may not meet Thursday’s initial deadline. Nelson and Democrats want that looming deadline set aside, and other lawsuits could lead to more delays.
“The court’s ruling impacts thousands of ballots, and that number will likely increase as larger counties like Broward add their ballots to the total pool which can be cured,” Elias said. “We are taking several steps to ensure the rights of every Floridian are protected, and this is one major step forward.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Seamore All, left, and Name Smith join a small group of protesters gathered in front of the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)