New Florida Rule: Go to Wrong Voting Place & Your Vote Will NOT Count
Tron Nick
Fla. Court Rules on Provisional Ballots -
Go to Wrong Voting Place & Your Vote Will NOT Count (helping America to Vote!)
People who cast a provisional ballot at the wrong precinct are not entitled to have their votes counted, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting an argument by labor unions that the rule wrongly disenfranchises voters. In a unanimous ruling, the court said the law clearly states that provisional ballots must be counted only if the person was entitled to vote ``at the precinct,'' and that the constitution gives the Legislature the authority to dictate voting rules. Under Florida law, if voters show up at a polling place but officials there have no record they are registered, they are given provisional ballots. Those ballots are then held until officials determine if the persons were entitled to vote at that precinct and had not already voted. If they should have been allowed to vote at that precinct, the ballots count; if not, they are thrown out. But a group of labor unions sued over the ballot law, saying it unconstitutionally disenfranchised voters who may not know their polling place. They argued that many people have new polling places because of redistricting, may have moved, or may have been displaced by a hurricane.
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