LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Half a million mail-in votes went uncounted in this year’s presidential primary election. Nearly 20 thousand of those ballots belonged to Florida residents.
Election supervisors say the most common mistake is forgetting to sign your envelop.
The Lee County Election Office is expecting a 90 percent turn out for the general election in November. Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle says 74 percent of voters voted by mail in last week’s primary.
But, as many as 200 had to be corrected and about 300 were rejected. That’s why Doyle urges voters to mail their absentee ballots at least ten days before the election.
“They can mail it right back. If you know how you want to vote it, vote, and send it back right away,” he said. “Don’t call us the day before the election, because it’s way too late.”
Nationwide at least 50,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in the presidential primary election this year. National Public Radio reports 18,000 of those were from Florida. Ballots weren’t counted either because voters failed to sign their names or mailed ballots too late.
“You can track your ballot on our website. Go to lee.vote, track my ballot, and you can see that we sent it to you,” said Doyle.
Political Science Professor Peter Bergerson at Florida Gulf Coast University says Florida plays a crucial role in determining the next president of the United States.
“That are so competitive that a few number of votes could determine the outcome one way or the other,” he said.
He added the more mistakes people make, the longer the election process could last.
“The election may not resolve who actually got the mandate from voters to be the next president of the United States,” said Bergerson.
Doyle also says his office will contact you if there’s a mistake on your ballot. As long as they receive it before 7:00 on election night, you’ll have up to two days after the election to correct it.
