Q&A of the Day – Should Florida Limit the Use of Vote-By-Mail Ballots?
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Today’s Entry: Hi Brian & thanks for the research you always do for us. Speaking of which...what do you think of the proposal to limit mailed in ballots? As I recall from your coverage awhile back mailed ballots are the ones most ripe for voter fraud. I’ll look forward to hearing what you think of this proposal.
Bottom Line: One of the proposed bills in this year’s state legislative session that’s gaining a lot of attention is state senator Blaise Ingoglia’s “Elections” bill. The 24-page bill proposes to significantly limit the use of vote-by-mail ballots. Under existing Florida law anyone can request and use a vote-by-mail ballot who is a registered voter within the state. Should the new proposal pass as proposed it would limit the use of a vote by mail ballot to these conditions. It reads: A qualified absent voter may vote by mail if, on election day and during early in-person voting, the absent voter expects to be:
- Absent from the county of his or her residence
- Unable to appear personally at the early voting site because of illness or physical disability
- A resident or patient of a United States Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility
- Absent from his or her legal residence because he or she is confined in jail
In the 2022 midterm election cycle 2.77 million votes, or 36%, were cast via vote-by-mail ballots and in 2020’s presidential election cycle a total of 4.86 million votes, or 44% of all votes cast, were cast via vote-by-mail ballots (though that total was likely elevated due to the pandemic). Regardless, we’re talking about the way that over a third of Floridians have been voting potentially being impacted is this proposal would become law. Because Florida hasn’t required a “cause”, or “excuse” for the use of vote-by-mail ballots in recent cycles, it’s unknown exactly how many voters may potentially be impacted under this proposed change. As for election integrity considerations, which is the premise of this proposal, it is true that vote-by-mail ballots have been used to commit voter fraud in Florida.
Proven instances of voter fraud are recorded in the Heritage Foundation’s voter fraud database. In Florida, there have been 63 criminal convictions for voter fraud since the 2000 election. Of those, 15 have involved the use of vote-by-mail ballots. Fraudulent use of absentee ballots is second only to those convicted of ineligible voting (most commonly felons which haven’t had voting rights restored or illegal immigrants who’ve voted). Somewhat notably, the only election result which has been overturned due to voter fraud in Florida since 2000 (a 2020 Eatonville Town Council election) did involve the use of vote-by-mail ballots. While any election fraud, is too much election fraud, it can be debated as to whether the preferred voting method of greater than a third of Floridians should be changed as a result of 15 voter fraud convictions for the use of them over the previous 10 election cycles. Historically, the biggest issue with vote-by-mail ballots in Florida has been self-disfranchisement which was an issue I’ve previously highlighted.
An ACLU study of vote-by-mail ballots in Florida found:
- Mail ballots have had a higher rejection rate than votes cast at assigned precincts on Election Day and at Early Voting sites.
- Younger and racial and ethnic minority voters were much more likely to have their VBM ballots rejected, and less likely to have their VBM ballots cured when they are flagged for a signature problem.
- Florida voters were more likely to have their vote tabulated and validated if they cast their ballot in person at an Early Voting site or at their assigned Election Day polling location.
An average of 26,000 vote-by-mail ballots had not been tabulated per statewide election cycle over the previous decade. The prominent reasons why vote-by-mail ballots have been rejected, voters not signing the ballot envelope or that the voter’s signature on the envelope didn't match the voter’s signature on file. Additionally, if we vote in person, there’s someone to guide us and to help us if we do make a mistake or if there are issues. For these reasons, it’s demonstrably best to vote in-person. But the question becomes whether we want to compel significantly larger numbers of people to have to vote in person. While this is an issue which has gained attention at the onset of the session, this isn’t an issue Governor DeSantis has advocated for and it remains unknown whether he’d support the bill even if it were passed to his desk. For these reasons I view it as unlikely to pass in this year’s legislative session.