The 2017 legislative session began as all sessions do: a flurry of bills filed amid visions of policy reforms - some grand, others not so much. By the end of session, only a fraction of the bills filed will make it to the floor for a vote and be enacted into law.

Thirty-seven bills relating to election law were filed this past session, on issues ranging from the seemingly mundane (election system audits and alert systems) to the aspirational (restoration of voting rights for felons) to the unnecessary (preventing non-citizens from voting - that's already a thing). One bill sought to close the much maligned (and, at times, abused) write-in loop-hole, while another sought to make the Secretary of State an elected position and member of the cabinet. Of the 37 election-related bills filed, only one passed both Houses - HB105 - and it did so unanimously.

HB105 - A Much Needed Fix for Vote-By-Mail Balloting

HB 105 fixed a major flaw in Florida's vote-by-mail law. Prior to the fix, the statute required the rejection of vote-by-mail ballots where the signature on the outer ballot envelope did not match the signature on file with the Supervisor of Elections office. Such signature mismatches do not necessarily indicate fraud; in fact, they can occur for a variety of innocent reasons such as age, body position, writing surface, etc.

Under the old statute, the voter would not know that his or her vote had not been counted until after the election - at which point it is too late to fix. In contrast, voters who completely failed to sign their ballot envelopes were advised of the defect prior to the election and were given the opportunity to cure it so that their votes would be counted. Now, under the new and improved statute, voters with mismatched signatures will be given advance notice of the defect and the opportunity to fix it so that their vote can be counted.

Why does this matter? Given razor-thin margins in recent elections, this is no small issue - especially because voting by mail is on the rise in Florida: 

2012 2.3 Million

→

2016 2.7 Million

The signature mismatch law adversely affected approximately 23,000 voters in the 2012 election cycle. For those still keeping score, that's more than 40 times the margin in Bush v. Gore.

Last October a federal judge recognized the statute's flaw as " illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre" and struck the statute as unconstitutional. The legislature quickly responded and passed HB 105. Governor Scott signed HB 105 into law on June 2, 2017. 

The election will be here before you know it.  Because canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots may begin 15 days before the election, voters are urged to mail in their ballots as early as possible so that they have sufficient time to cure a signature defect should one arise.