FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ The Florida Department of State is requesting federal prosecutors review altered forms that were given to voters in Broward and at least three other counties seeking to resolve issues with mail-in ballots.
The deadline to resolve mail-in ballot issues, such as a missing signature, was at 5 p.m. Nov. 5, the day before Election Day.
But election supervisors in Broward, Citrus, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties received state forms from voters where the date had been altered. The forms, which are used to fix problems with mail-in ballots, told voters they had until 5 p.m. Nov. 8 to resolve issues, according to emails released by the Department of State on Wednesday.
The issues detailed in the letter don't appear to involve allegations of fraud involving election officials or the counting of illegal votes.
Paul Lux, supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County, suspected the Florida Democratic Party was distributing the altered forms, according to the documents first reported on by Politico.
"Please pass the word to the FDP they can't arbitrarily add their own deadline to your form for VBM cures!" Lux wrote. "This is crazy!!"
Susan Gill, supervisor of elections in Citrus County, wrote 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
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."
Sarah J. Schall, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment about the letter.
