PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – In Miami-Dade County, hundreds of thousands of voters have been voting by mail successfully for years, according to Christina White, Miami-Dade County’s Supervisor of Elections.
This election, mail-in voting is bigger than ever with over 420,000 ballots already into the Broward County Department of Elections.
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For many voters, this is the first time they will have filled out a mail-in ballot.
So, how will you know if, for some reason, your ballot is rejected? And, is there a way to get it fixed so your vote counts?
Mostly, according to the supervisors of elections, ballots are rejected for “Ballot Envelope Deficiences.”
In Miami-Dade County, a recent tally showed that 2,313 ballots arrived without a signature. However, 2,084 of those have been “cured,” according to Robert Rodriguez, assistant deputy supervisor of elections, government affairs and media relations, Miami-Dade County Elections Department.
White says the No. 1 reason a ballot is rejected is because voters forget to sign their ballot.
“You can track your ballot on our website and there shouldn’t be any question mark about did we receive it, or was it accepted,” she said.
Voters have until Thursday to have their ballots “cured.”
Check the status of your ballot
Any voter who has requested a vote-by-mail ballot can track online the status of his or her ballot through a link within the Division of Elections' Voter Information Lookup.
Once on the website, put in your name and birth date, then click the link titled “Ballot and Precinct Information.”
After clicking the link, you will be taken to your county supervisor of elections website where it will display your ballot status, when it was delivered to you, when it is received to the elections supervisor and, then, when it’s been counted.
Or, go directly to the county Supervisor of Elections website.
>In Miami-Dade County, click here.
>In Broward County, click here.
>In Monroe County, click here.
> In Palm Beach County, click here.
How long do you have to get it fixed?
It’s a Florida law to help get your ballot “cured.” According to law: "A Supervisor of Elections is required to notify a voter as soon as it is practical if a voter’s signature is missing or does not match the one on record. Once a voter learns about the missing or mismatched signature, the voter may complete and return a “Vote-by-Mail Ballot Cure” Affidavit (Form DS-DE 139 (English PDF / Español PDF) with a copy of identification.
The documentation can be returned by mail, email, fax, or in person. The deadline to submit the form and the ID is no later than 5 p.m. on the 2nd day after an election (Thursday). Failure to follow the instructions may cause the ballot not to be counted."
Your best bet the Elections' Supervisors say is to keep track yourself and make sure your mail-in ballot has been received and counted or rejected.
Any questions? Call the Supervisor of Elections office. Find the numbers by clicking on the links above.