Nelson campaign sues to stop rejection of Florida ballots based on signatures

[Borealis]

http://www.wlrn.org/post/nelson-campaign-sues-stop-rejection-ballots-based-voter-signatures?fbclid=IwAR0fkF7ikhAQBxiKlEeU9Jii95o4pZ9YkoHXGMVSm5FXx-66lfi6aYOmoUc

Senator Bill Nelson’s campaign and the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida have filed a lawsuit against the state’s Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, challenging the rejection of
vote-by-mail and provisional ballots based on voter signatures.

Under Florida law, absentee and provisional ballots are only counted if the signatures on them match the signatures that elections offices have on record.

“The fact is that these laws, when taken together, condition the right to vote of millions of Floridians who vote-by-mail, or wind up voting provisionally, on the untrained opinions of
canvassing boards or elections officials as to whether or not signatures match,” said Nelson’s campaign attorney, Mark Elias.

“The problem is that voters in one county are subject to different standards for reviewing signatures than others and there is no uniform standard or even sufficient training for this,
and it’s highly error prone.”

“Studies have shown that laypersons conducting signature matching are more likely to reject legitimate signatures as inauthentic than the other way around,” he went on to say. “This
serves as an outright disenfranchisement and burden on the right to vote.” Meanwhile, Scott has sued the elections supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties, alleging
“rampant fraud.”

As of Friday morning, the difference in votes between the Democratic incumbent and his Republican challenger, Governor Rick Scott, was just
15,055 votes, or .18 percent, well within the .25 percent threshold that triggers a manual recount.

Elias believes that most of the absentee and provisional ballots that have yet to be counted will only serve to reduce that margin. “Right now the results are unknown, as to who has
won,” he said. “If I had to place a bet I would say it is more likely than not that Senator Nelson will prevail in a recount and therefore be sworn in again to the United States Senate for
another term in January.”

Florida counties will continue canvassing operations until noon on Saturday, at which point state law requires them to be finished. Hand recounts should start early Sunday in most
counties, according to Elias.

Compared to Arizona where everyone has a week to fix signatures.

[Aide]

I find that my signature varies a lot. Like when I use my credit card or sign paper work for work. My drivers license signature doesn't resembled my signature today.

[Kolmala]

I have fine motor control issues that I've had all my life. My signature is different literally every time I write it, even when I write it twice in a row. Fuck I guess if I lived in Florida I can't vote anymore.

[Dracon]

my signature doesn't match my drivers license, because the DMV near me doesn't have a single signing machine that works right.
I'm in Florida, but they said that since one letter was readable as matching the one on my license it "matched"

[Sableye]

oh hey, exact match. I wonder where they got the idea from.

[Borealis]

It gets Republicans elected.

[CyclonatorZ]

Yep, same here. This is completely bullshit, and yet another element of a vast, organized effort to deny people their constitutional rights as citizens of the United States.