Florida Invalidates More Absentee Ballots From Black, Young Voters
Just before the November 2016 election, a federal judge forced the Florida Division of Elections to allow rejected absentee-ballot voters to correct mistakes on their mailed-in forms. Yet somehow even more ballots ended up being rejected in that election than in 2012 — and younger voters and voters of color, who overwhelmingly lean to the left, had their ballots invalidated at a far higher rate.
That's the conclusion of a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which says the results suggest a troubling trend of the state tossing out ballots from young and minority residents for reasons the group can't explain.
"All voters — regardless of race and ethnicity or age — face considerable hurdles when casting a mail ballot," the report reads. "But in Florida, younger voters, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, are disproportionately more likely not to have their VBM ballot counted as valid."
During the 2016 election, voters aged 18 to 21 were eight times likelier to have their mail-in ballots rejected by local election boards compared to voters aged 65 or older. Even though voters under 30 made up less than 10 percent of all absentee voters, those in that age bracket made up 30 percent of all rejected ballots. The ACLU noted that ballot rejections were particularly acute in counties with large college populations.
Read more: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/aclu-florida-invalidates-more-votes-from-black-young-voters-9885711
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