WEST PALM BEACH - Questions have arisen over whether 172 Palm Beach County voters who didn't correctly sign absentee ballots can have their votes counted in Tuesday's primary election.
The question is whether the voters can come into the elections office and correct their mistakes. The law requires every ballot to be signed.
Theresa LePore, the county's election supervisor, called the Florida Division of Elections for help Friday. A state official issued a memo to all elections officials.
"Once cast, the mailing envelope and ballot cannot be changed, cured, or in any other way manipulated by the voter, the supervisor of elections, or any other party," State Elections Supervisor Dawn Roberts wrote.
"An opposite rule, which would permit the tantamount to sticking a hand in the voter box on election day to retrieve a cast ballot, would open the door to manipulation, lack of uniformity and fraud," Roberts wrote.
A decision on whether to challenge Roberts' opinion will be made after the county elections canvassing board reviews the ballots and makes a decision Monday, Loehndorf said.
Of the estimated 18,000 ballots inspected Friday, only 172 ballots were set aside because of signature problems. In that group, 104 ballots weren't signed, 64 of the signatures didn't match those on file at the elections office and four had other unspecified problems.
