Voting in Florida...It’s logic – not conspiracy
Excerpt: A study of Florida’s past two presidential elections finds that mail ballots were 10 times more likely to be rejected than votes cast at early voting sites or on election day.
The study also found that mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors than other voters.
About 1 percent of all mail ballots cast are rejected and not counted. The statewide totals were nearly 24,000 ballots in 2012 and nearly 28,000 two years ago.
The main reasons why mail ballots are rejected are that a voter didn’t sign the ballot envelope or that the voter’s signature on the envelope did not match the voter’s signature on file with the county elections office.
Bottom Line: Importantly, despite the context of potential impropriety and some recommendations to tighten up the process statewide which may be sensible there’s an important point to be made here that doesn’t have anything to do with conspiracy or inconsistencies across the state. We’re all human and prone to making mistakes. Additionally, our signature and hand writing has the potential to change over time. If we vote in person there’s someone to guide us and to help us if we do make a mistake or if there are issues. If we mail a ballot in there isn’t. If a ballot isn’t properly prepared it shouldn’t be accepted. For these reasons, it’s demonstrably best to vote in-person if at all possible, using ballots by mail only out of necessity.