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Judge Rules Against State On Ballot Signatures
October 18, 2016
In a blistering decision little more than three weeks before Election Day, a federal judge has ruled that a Florida law that could lead to the rejection of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots is unconstitutional.
The 30-page ruling Sunday by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker focused on situations in which voters’ signatures submitted with mail-in ballots do not appear to match signatures on file with county supervisors of elections. Under a 2004 law, such mail-in ballots are rejected.
But siding with the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee in a lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Ken Detzner, Walker issued a preliminary injunction ordering a process that would allow voters to resolve questions about such “mismatched signature ballots” — and have the ballots counted.
Walker called the state law “indefensible” and said it threatened to disenfranchise voters.
“During this election cycle, millions of voters across the state will march happily to their mailbox and attempt to exercise their fundamental right to vote by mailing their vote-by-mail ballot,” Walker wrote. “After the election, thousands of those same voters — through no fault of their own and without any notice or opportunity to cure — will learn that their vote was not counted. If disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters does not amount to a severe burden on the right to vote, then this court is at a loss as to what does.”
A key part of Walker’s ruling was that state law has allowed voters a process to fix — or, in legal parlance, “cure” — vote-by-mail ballots that do not include signatures. But it has not allowed a similar process for when signatures do not appear to match.
“It is illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre for the state of Florida to withhold the opportunity to cure from mismatched-signature voters while providing that same opportunity to no-signature voters,” Walker wrote. “And in doing so, the state of Florida has categorically disenfranchised thousands of voters arguably for no reason other than they have poor handwriting or their handwriting has changed over time.”
The ruling came as Democrats and Republicans try to round up every possible vote before the Nov. 8 general election, as Florida plays a critical role in the presidential race. It also came just days after Walker ordered that Florida’s voter-registration deadline be extended a week because of interruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew.
In a document filed Saturday, an attorney for Detzner argued that the vote-by-mail lawsuit should be dismissed. In part, the document said county election canvassing boards — not Detzner — are responsible for carrying out the law dealing with mismatched signatures. As a result, it argued that Detzner should be shielded from the lawsuit under the legal concept known as sovereign immunity.
“In sum, the secretary of state is not ‘responsible’ for carrying out the comparison mandated by the challenged statute,” the document said. “That responsibility is given to county officials and boards. Nor has the secretary attempted to carry out or second guess a comparison of signatures. Nor does the secretary have the power to simply issue orders to the independently elected supervisors of election or canvassing boards to take specific action with respect to the comparison of signatures. The alleged injury complained of would not be inflicted by the secretary, but by these local officials.”
But Walker rejected that argument, writing it is, “at best, disingenuous” for Detzner to contend he could not direct local elections officials to comply with a court order on the signature issue.
Walker also rejected the possibility that the law could be needed to prevent voter fraud.
“Indeed, this court is not being asked to order that any specific vote be counted, let alone those that are fraudulent,” he wrote. “Rather, this court is simply being asked to require that mismatched-signature voters have the same opportunity to cure as no-signature voters. In fact, letting mismatched-signature voters cure their vote by proving their identity further prevents voter fraud — it allows supervisors of elections to confirm the identity of that voter before their vote is counted.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Comments
11 Responses to “Judge Rules Against State On Ballot Signatures”
When are the Republicans going to learn that if you can’t beat them join them. we know they’re off corrupt federal judges who do nothing more then rubberstamp democratic voting lawsuits. it’s a fact that Democrats register dead people, illegal aliens and have people to vote multiple times in order to win elections. The Republicans need to stop fighting them and just do the same thing to offset the illegal voting tactics. that’s the only way to get a fair election outcome short of corrupt federal judges continually letting Democrats get a way with voting fraud
They put us through the wringer if we vote in person, but those who vote by mail don’t have to prove a thing. This shows they want all of us to vote by mail so they can fix every election. Many judges should not hold their position, we know that too.
Good luck with that one, you can barely vote one time without questions in this state. Republicans are always so worried about that, is it because they are the most likely to do it?
@ Kate, if I vote two or three times I am taking away or watering down your constitutional right to vote. So don’t you think there should be some kind of order in voting? Don’t you think there should be some form of check in the voting process?
Henry Coe : Guess some don’t realize Fla now has more than 20 million people.
Many elderly etc. we have several days to early vote but I’m guessing many choose to vote by mail for their own convenience. That’s the issue…..how to keep
Corruption out of the vote by mail especially in a state with prior instances of voting
problems……remember ” hanging chads ” ? For the few that fit your scenario’s maybe a call ( by the voter ) to alert of a different signature from their card would
suffice. If you’ll do a little research you’d find several million people live in Florida only part-time. Then there’s the ” been dead ” vote by mail. Americans should want a fair and verifiable election by only registered American voters who are alive
and vote only once.
It seems, by the comments of some, they should really read the article before commenting.
The judge having been appointed by President Obama, isn’t an argument against how he came to the ruling.
It’s hard to believe that anyone who is an American would want others votes to be arbitrarily dismissed when the reality is that it could be your vote that gets dismissed.
I used my Dad’s stroke as an example before, but let’s say the Absentee Ballot is that of a Wounded Combat Veteran who was right handed and now only has a left hand or has to sign his/her signature without the use of their wrist.
With this ruling, before the ballot is dismissed as not valid, they have to contact the voter to find out if it really is their signature. Without this ruling, someone looks at the signature, decides it doesn’t match and throws out the vote without contacting the voter, which in this scenario would be a Combat Wounded Veteran.
It’s an American trait to support everyone’s right to their vote. I’m glad Liberal’s support this, but everyone else, including Conservatives, should support this also.
I thought this ruling had a little liberal stench….Dist judge Mark Walker an OBAMA
appointee…..working in Leon County which voted for OBAMA last 2 elections …..things starting to add-up huh !
Sorry to say anything negative, but this judge is biased towards Hilly. This latest of his is so she gets more votes. Mr. Trump does not have a chance anyway. They did him just like that Godfather’s Pizza guy a few years back.
Good.
I know after my Dad had a stroke, his signature changed drastically. It would have been disappointing when he was alive if his voting had not been counted.
So, people have yet another chance to use false personal info, and to stuff the ballot boxes with false votes. Get off your butt and go to the polls. The only ones who should vote by mail are the people who have a legitimate reason not to be able to go to their polling places. Ie sick, injured, working overseas. We should make election day a national holiday.
Thank God, for some of our constitutional rights remaining.