Lite 99
▶ LISTEN LIVE

What ’curing’ a vote-by-mail ballot means and how to check if yours needs to be done

By
What ’curing’ a vote-by-mail ballot means and how to check if yours needs to be done

 

More than 2 million Floridians voted by mail in the election Tuesday, and if you’re one of the voters whose ballot needed to be fixed, you have until the end of today to do it.

It’s called curing your ballot.

Florida requires everyone who votes by mail to sign the envelope the ballot used to return it to the county elections office. That signature is matched to whatever signature the office has on file as a form of verifying the authenticity of the voter.

Signatures change over time as voters age. They may have health issues that can change signatures too. Plus, there is the issue of cursive vs. printing, especially with younger voters, election officials say. These things are taken into account when looking at a signature.

If the signature is missing or does not match the one on record, the elections office mails the voter a cure affidavit and also contacts them using whatever information is on file, including a phone call or an email.

Voters can also get vote-by-mail updates through their supervisor of elections website. If they look up their voter info, they can learn if their ballot has been mailed and if the elections office received it.

If a voter needs to cure their ballot, they need to sign the cure affidavit and provide a copy of an approved form of voter identification and send it back to the county elections office. The office must receive the affidavit by 5 p.m. on the Thursday after the election (Nov. 5), otherwise the vote will not count.

The affidavit also requires the person to affirm that they are a qualified voter who is registered in the county and that they have not voted more than once.

You can find ballot curing information on your county supervisor of elections website, or call their office for help.