Democrats are suing Florida’s top election official in federal court to stop the practice of election officials tossing vote by mail ballots if the signature on the ballot envelope does not match the one on file. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida by the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee. The listed defendant is Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who oversee state elections. “This is a case about the denial of the fundamental right to vote of thousands of Florida voters who vote-by-mail,” read the lawsuit. The case is being brought by attorney Mark Herron, one of Florida’s most prominent Democratic attorneys, and attorneys from Perkins Coie, which is the go-to law firm for Democrats nationally.
At issue is the signing of a vote-by-mail ballot envelope. In cases when a person does not sign the envelope, state law gives them the opportunity to submit an affidavit confirming they are the one who cast the ballot. That same opportunity is not afforded to those whose signature on the envelope does not match the one in the state’s voter file.
The request for an emergency injunction to halt the practice comes as millions of vote-by-mail ballots have already been sent to voters. So far, 2.3 million ballots have been sent to voters. Of those, 1 million have gone to Republicans, 896,180 have gone to Democrats, and 399,949 have gone to those with no party affiliation.
Full Article: Democrats sue Florida over vote-by-mail verification.