Democrats say that’s tantamount to voter suppression — if the Scott campaign wants to block votes uploaded after 7 p.m. | AP Photo Nelson files lawsuit to count more votes; Scott alleges fraud

MIAMI — Sen. Bill Nelson’s campaign and Florida Democrats filed an 11th hour federal lawsuit Friday to block local elections officials from applying “arbitrary and standardless” policies for rejecting thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots.

The lawsuit — filed in the heat of three nationally watched and disputed statewide elections amid charges of voter suppression and voter fraud — comes just a day before the noon Saturday deadline for Florida election supervisors to send the first wave of results for the 2018 midterms, so that the state can determine which races to certify and which to recount.


So far, Nelson’s reelection against Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida races for governor and agriculture commissioner are headed to recounts as well as three state legislative contests.

Judging by past elections, thousands of ballots have likely already been rejected because the voter’s signature on file with the county election supervisor does not appear to match the signature on his or her envelope carrying the mailed-in absentee ballot or provisional ballot. More than 2.6 million vote-by-mail absentee ballots were mailed in this election.

“Despite its grave effect of rendering voters' ballots ineffective, Florida's process for rejecting ballots based on signature mismatch is done without any consistent standard or relevant expertise. Some counties use signature verification technology, for example; others do not,” the lawsuit said. The number of VBM [vote by mail] and provisional ballots that are rejected as illegal based on a perceived signature mismatch varies considerably and significantly across counties — and even, more troubling, across race and party.”

The suit cites a study from University of Florida political science professor Daniel A. Smith who found that “in Florida, younger voters as well as racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately more likely not to have their VBM ballot counted as valid.” Also, the study said, due to “issues with their signature, eligible registrants in Florida who are younger — particularly first-time voters — and who are racial or ethnic minorities are much more likely to have their ballot rejected by a county canvassing board.”

Coincidentally, former Democratic congressman and 2016 U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy told POLITICO that his absentee ballot was rejected because his signature didn’t match.

“It’s crazy this happened,” said Murphy, who found out when he checked his ballot status in Palm Beach County online Thursday. “My signature was good enough in the primary, but now it doesn’t match? So my vote didn’t count.”

President Donald Trump, who has falsely alleged voter fraud in Florida in previous elections, has weighed in again with the same accusation, which had been echoed by Scott as he has watched his lead against Nelson drastically shrink and head to a hand recount, prompting the governor to file lawsuits and call for a criminal investigation.

“As soon as Democrats sent their best Election stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to Broward County they miraculously started finding Democrat votes,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Don’t worry, Florida — I am sending much better lawyers to expose the FRAUD!“

The signature-matching requirement in question was placed in Florida statute to prevent voter fraud because it ensures that there’s some way to prevent an anonymous person from mailing in phony votes without getting caught.

“With today's filing, their desperation has driven them to ask the federal courts to allow voter fraud,” a Scott campaign press release said. “They are asking courts to overrule election officials and accept ballots that were not legally cast.”

Scott’s rhetoric has grown increasingly accusatory and conspiratorial as tens of thousands of votes were tallied after Election Day in Democrat-heavy Broward and Palm Beach counties, causing the margin in his race against Nelson to fall below 16,000 and less than a quarter of a percentage point, which triggered a manual recount under Florida law. At the same time, the margins in the race for governor shrunk to also trigger a recount. Also, the race for agriculture commissioner is headed to a recount as the Democrat took a narrow lead over the Republican.

Scott responded by asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate and his campaign filed public records lawsuits against the local elections supervisors alleging they failed to provide documents on ballots left to count after Election Day — numbers they should have been able to easily provide. Republicans are also accusing Broward’s election supervisor, Brenda Snipes, of breaking a state law that requires votes to be updated at regular 45-minute intervals.

“Every vote that was legally and verifiably cast prior to the polls closing at 7:00 pm on Tuesday should of course be counted,” Scott’s campaign said. “Any votes that mysteriously showed up after that deadline are invalid.”

Democrats say that’s tantamount to voter suppression — if the Scott campaign wants to block votes uploaded after 7 p.m.

Scott’s administration in 2016 unsuccessfully fought a Democratic lawsuit that ultimately gave voters the right to fix their signature if elections officials determined they didn’t match the one no file.