Around the state, counties have seen an increased amount of ballots cast through early voting and mail-ins that are far exceeding those tallied during the 2014 midterm election. Election Day is still a week away but voters have already been making their voices heard by casting their ballots early. Since tragedies like the high school shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead, some young voters have eagerly awaited the midterms to vote on issues that matter to them: gun control, health care and education. Around the state, counties have seen an increased number of ballots cast through early voting and mail-ins that are far exceeding those tallied during the 2014 midterm election. As of Tuesday, more than 3 million people had already voted, according to the Florida Division of Elections, an uptick of nearly a million ballots compared with this time in 2014. About 1.8 million of those ballots were mail-in ballots.
Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida, has been tracking votes since they began pouring in through the state. Of the mail-in ballots that have been received, he said, about 14,300 have been rejected for various reasons, such as missing signatures.
Voters ages 18 to 29 account for just 5 percent of the state’s mail-in ballots, but those younger voters are more likely to have issues with their ballots.
Smith said his data shows that young voters make up 12 percent of those missing signatures. Young voters also make up 20 percent of those ballots with some other noted error, like a signature that doesn’t match the signature on file.
People ages 65 and up account for 55 percent of the vote-by-mail population. Of those ballots missing signatures, 41 percent are from voters 65 and older.
Full Article: Young voters’ ballots more likely to have glitches.