About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Robert Timothy Reagan, An Opportunity to Cure Absentee Ballot Signatures That Do Not Match Voter Registration Records 1 (2018)

handle is hein.congcourts/fjcocab0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION An Opportunity to Cure Absentee Ballot Signatures That Do Not Match Voter Registration Records Florida Democratic Party v. Detzner (Mark E. Walker, N.D. Fla. 4:16-cv-607) A little over one month before a general election, a political party filed a federal complaint seeking opportunities to cure mismatches between absentee ballot signatures and voter registration signa- tures, noting an existing opportunity to cure signature omissions. After taking testimony from the local county supervisor of elec- tions, the district judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring an opportunity to cure signature mismatches. Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: Signature matching; absentee ballots; equal protection; news media; attorney fees. On October 3, 2016, a little over one month before the general election, a po- litical party filed a federal complaint in the Northern District of Florida against Florida's secretary of state seeking an opportunity to cure when a voter's signature on a mailed absentee ballot is judged not to match the sig- nature on file.' According to the complaint, a mismatched signature caused the ballot to be excluded from the election, but an absent signature triggered an opportunity to cure the defect before the election although because Flor- ida's system of signature review involves human reviewers, it is necessarily fallible.2 With its complaint, the party filed an emergency motion for a pre- liminary injunction, noting that the canvassing of returned vote-by-mail ballots is to begin on October 24.1 The party experienced technical difficulties filing the case electronically,4 perhaps because the party's attorneys were not registered with the court as electronic filers.5 For that reason, there was a delay in Judge Mark E. Walk- er's learning that he had been assigned the case.6 On October 6, Judge Walk- er set a telephone conference for the following day and ordered the party to immediately serve the secretary's attorneys. 1. Complaint, Fla. Democratic Party v. Detzner, No. 4:16-cv-607 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 3, 2016), D.E. 5; see Steve Bousquet, Florida Sued Over Mail Ballots, Tampa Bay Times, Oct. 4, 2016, at 5; Steve Bousquet, Mail Voting Heads to Record, Tampa Bay Times, Oct. 6, 2016, at 1. 2. Complaint, supra note 1, at 14. 3. Motion, Fla. Democratic Party, No. 4:16-cv-607 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 3, 2016), D.E. 1. 4. Interview with Hon. Mark E. Walker, Oct. 31, 2016. Tim Reagan interviewed Judge Walker for this report by telephone. 5. Notice, Fla. Democratic Party, No. 4:16-cv-607 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 5, 2016), D.E. 8. 6. Interview with Hon. Mark E. Walker, Oct. 31, 2016 (noting the importance of the clerk's office keeping a judge informed about emergency filings assigned to the judge). 7. Order, Fla. Democratic Party, No. 4:16-cv-607 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 6, 2016), D.E. 12. Federal Judicial Center 11/16/2018 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most