January 04, 2005
Provisional ballots blow
The numbers are in for provisional ballots, and they’re not encouraging for those who believe that every vote should be counted. Actually, with this rejection rate, provisional ballots serve little purpose other than calming a distressed voter (voter valium?) and being used by GOP types who love to say things like “yeah, but even if that minority/poor/ex-felon/unlucky voter is, uh, mistakenly disenfranchised, a provisional ballot can always be cast...”
Nearly two-thirds of provisional ballots rejected in Florida
Nearly two-thirds of provisional ballots cast on Election Day in Florida weren't counted, mostly because the people casting them weren't registered to vote, state officials said Monday.Preliminary figures, culled by the state from county elections officials, showed that of 27,742 provisional ballots cast, 9,915 were counted and 17,827 were rejected. The number could be revised but isn't likely to change dramatically.
......An analysis by the Tallahassee Democrat, which polled counties about rejected provisional ballots, found that slightly more than 7 percent were tossed because voters had been purged from the rolls either because they hadn't voted in several years or were found to be ex-felons.
State law requires county election officials to drop voters if they haven't voted in the last two federal elections.
State law also requires that a voter file a provisional ballot in the correct precinct, not just the right county. Lots of other needlessly strict rules are also used to disqualify ballots.
Posted by Norwood at January 4, 2005 09:53 AM