FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Florida officials have flagged a possible violation of election law in the midterm contests related to forms voters use to fix problems with mail-in ballots.
The issue, though, doesn't appear to involve fraud by election officials or the casting of illegal votes, and it could have actually resulted in voters missing the state's deadline to fix problems with their ballots.
The Florida Department of State is requesting federal prosecutors review doctored forms that were given to people in Broward, Citrus, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties, according to documents released Wednesday. The issue involves forms _ called vote-by-mail cure affidavits _ that voters can submit to fix issues with mail-in ballots, such as a missing signature.
Someone changed the deadline on the form from the correct date of 5 p.m. Nov. 5 _ the day before the election _ to Thursday Nov. 8, according to a letter sent by the state to federal prosecutors. Election officials flagged the issue when they noticed forms arriving with the incorrect date. It's against Florida law to make or use an altered form.
Emails sent by election supervisors attached to the letter suggest that the Florida Democratic Party distributed the forms in attempt to help voters fix issues with their mail-in ballots.
"Please pass the word to the FDP they can't arbitrarily add their own deadline to your form for VBM cures!" Paul Lux, supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County, wrote. "This is crazy!!"
It's unclear when the forms were circulated, but emails about the issue were dated on the Wednesday and Thursday after Election Day.
In a letter dated Friday, Bradley McVay, interim general counsel for the Florida Department of State, requested federal prosecutors in southern, middle and northern Florida "take all necessary steps to investigate and remedy such abuse."
Susan Gill, supervisor of elections in Citrus County, wrote in an email she called a number received by a voter who had gotten an altered form, and it was the Florida Democratic Party. She questioned whether the party had mixed up a deadline for mail-in ballots with one for provisional ballots, adding the "bigger problem" was they had changed the form.
Caroline Rowland, a spokeswoman for the Florida Democratic Party, did not return a phone message and email left Wednesday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel
Sarah J. Schall, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment about the letter.
