Broward elections chief urges in-person voting amid mail ballot delays
Key Points(5)
- Broward County’s top elections official is urging voters to consider voting early in person instead of relying on vote-by-mail ballots amid concerns about delays involving the U.S.
- Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said his office has received complaints from voters who say they never received their requested vote-by-mail ballots.
- Other voters who mailed completed ballots back have reported tracking information showing their ballots sitting at Postal Service facilities instead of making their way to the elections office.
- Broward voter Joseph Baptiste is among those concerned about where his ballot may be.
- “I’m 73 years old now.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott is urging voters to consider casting their ballots in person amid reports of delays involving the U.S. Postal Service that could prevent vote-by-mail ballots from arriving before the deadline to be counted.
Scott said his office has received an unusual number of complaints from voters who have not received requested ballots or whose completed ballots have yet to reach the elections office, with tracking information showing some mail sitting at postal facilities for days.
“The Postal Service, the quality of the service, has just dropped tremendously,” Scott said.
Scott said a batch of ballots destined for Hallandale Beach voters was recently found sitting at a postal facility for about a week. He also reviewed postal tracking reports showing that some ballots sent to residents of the city took nine to 11 days to arrive, despite the first large batch being mailed Sept. 24.
The delays have prompted Scott to recommend that voters consider early in-person voting rather than risk having their ballots arrive too late.
Florida law requires vote-by-mail ballots to be received at the appropriate supervisor of elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. Ballots received after that deadline cannot be counted.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, Scott’s office had received 104,236 of the 186,236 vote-by-mail ballots issued in Broward County.
Scott said the complaints have come from reliable sources, including voters who live both inside and outside the county, and are more than routine election-season rumors.
He said his office has contacted Postal Service officials but has struggled to obtain an explanation for the delays.
“You don’t really get any answers because they don’t really have the ability to tell us what is really going on,” Scott said.
Asked why, he added: “I’m not sure why, but I think that there is a lack of transparency.”
Scott said he has twice asked the Postal Service liaison assigned to his office for permission to tour the facility where Broward’s election mail is processed. Both requests were rejected.
“The Postal Service is not being transparent. They will not allow me to come inside the processing facility to let me see what’s going on,” he said. “They need to be transparent with elected officials.”
Broward County mail is processed at the Royal Palm Processing and Distribution Center in Opa-locka, Miami-Dade County. The Postal Service closed processing centers in Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines in 2012 as part of a nationwide cost-cutting effort, shifting Broward’s mail-sorting operations to Opa-locka.
Scott, who is serving his second four-year term as Broward’s elected elections supervisor, said he has historically viewed the Postal Service as a reliable partner but has noticed a decline in service.
“I definitely think there’s been a degraded service over time. I’ve definitely seen in the past where the ballots showed up very quickly, and it didn’t seem to be a problem,” he said.
Similar concerns have emerged in Monroe County, where Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies said officials have encountered problems with vote-by-mail ballots being returned from several states.
“Missouri, Minnesota, several out east, Connecticut, New Hampshire also Rhode Island, Virginia. So it is not just one section of the United States,” Hodies said. “It is many of the states, and we don’t know if it is happening on their side or if it is happening on our side.”
Scott urged voters who have requested mail ballots to check their status through the Broward Supervisor of Elections website and consider voting in person if their ballots appear to be delayed.
Voters who believe their ballots have been lost or will not arrive in time can still cast their votes in person, he said. Safeguards are in place to prevent anyone from voting twice.
If a voter’s mail ballot has already been received by the elections office, the internal system will flag it when the voter attempts to vote in person. Similarly, if someone votes in person and their mail ballot arrives afterward, the mailed ballot will be rejected.
“If you believe your ballot is lost in the mail, if you believe the ballot is not going to make it on time, you still have a right to vote,” Scott said.
Drop boxes, officially known as secure ballot intake stations, are available at all early voting locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 1. Drop boxes will also be available at supervisor of elections offices on Nov. 2 and Election Day, Nov. 3.
Voters can also cast their ballots in person at their assigned polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
