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ACLU Sues Over Late Absentee Ballots
Nov 3, 1:01 AM (ET)
By TIM REYNOLDS
MIAMI (AP) - Absentee ballots mailed by Florida elections supervisors too late for possibly thousands of voters to return them on time should still count, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The suit, filed against Secretary of State Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, asks that completed absentee ballots mailed in the United States that arrive at county offices before Nov. 12 be counted. State law required those ballots to reach county offices by Tuesday night.
The Nov. 12 deadline would be the same standard applied to absentee ballots filed by voters who are out of the country.
"These are not people who filed their request for an absentee ballot late," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "These are people who filed it well in advance of the deadline and some of them just got their absentee ballot (Tuesday) - effectively preventing them from participating in today's election."
Broward County officials dropped off more than 2,500 absentee ballots to a U.S. Postal Service distribution center Saturday afternoon, meaning they could not be delivered to residents - some of whom said they requested the ballots more than a month ago - before Monday.
In Palm Beach County, more than 5,500 ballots were put in the mail Saturday. That county office, however, is not part of the ACLU's lawsuit. Simon said Broward and Miami-Dade offices were targeted in the suit because residents of those areas complained about the delays in receiving their ballots. He did not have any specific details about delays in Miami-Dade.
An ACLU lawsuit against state officials or Gov. Jeb Bush isn't unusual. The group previously sued the state seeking better recount guidelines, maintains that problems with the 2002 primary elections hurt minority voters, and sued Bush over his order that a brain-damaged woman be kept alive over her husband's objections.
"Canadian geese migrate south in the winter. The ACLU sued the state of Florida on Election Day," the governor said. "No big deal."
Simon said he believes that if the injunction is granted, Hood - the state's chief overseer of elections - would have to order that all absentee ballots arriving before Nov. 12 at any county elections office count.
"This is the fault of negligence of elections officials," Simon said, "not the lethargy of voters."
ACLU Sues Over Late Absentee Ballots
Nov 3, 1:01 AM (ET)
By TIM REYNOLDS
MIAMI (AP) - Absentee ballots mailed by Florida elections supervisors too late for possibly thousands of voters to return them on time should still count, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The suit, filed against Secretary of State Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, asks that completed absentee ballots mailed in the United States that arrive at county offices before Nov. 12 be counted. State law required those ballots to reach county offices by Tuesday night.
The Nov. 12 deadline would be the same standard applied to absentee ballots filed by voters who are out of the country.
"These are not people who filed their request for an absentee ballot late," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "These are people who filed it well in advance of the deadline and some of them just got their absentee ballot (Tuesday) - effectively preventing them from participating in today's election."
Broward County officials dropped off more than 2,500 absentee ballots to a U.S. Postal Service distribution center Saturday afternoon, meaning they could not be delivered to residents - some of whom said they requested the ballots more than a month ago - before Monday.
In Palm Beach County, more than 5,500 ballots were put in the mail Saturday. That county office, however, is not part of the ACLU's lawsuit. Simon said Broward and Miami-Dade offices were targeted in the suit because residents of those areas complained about the delays in receiving their ballots. He did not have any specific details about delays in Miami-Dade.
An ACLU lawsuit against state officials or Gov. Jeb Bush isn't unusual. The group previously sued the state seeking better recount guidelines, maintains that problems with the 2002 primary elections hurt minority voters, and sued Bush over his order that a brain-damaged woman be kept alive over her husband's objections.
"Canadian geese migrate south in the winter. The ACLU sued the state of Florida on Election Day," the governor said. "No big deal."
Simon said he believes that if the injunction is granted, Hood - the state's chief overseer of elections - would have to order that all absentee ballots arriving before Nov. 12 at any county elections office count.
"This is the fault of negligence of elections officials," Simon said, "not the lethargy of voters."
