Most Florida provisional ballots rejected; voters often in wrong precinct

The vast majority of provisional ballots -- voters' last chance to have their voices heard -- were rejected, a review of the presidential election results from across the state found. While most elections officials on Tuesday were still analyzing the reasons thousands of ballots ended up in the waste bin, they said the majority of rejected ballots were cast by people who simply were not registered to vote.Other reasons ballots ended up in the trash: voting in the wrong precinct, signatures that didn't match those on file at the elections office and lapsed registrations because voters hadn't responded to address-verification requests and hadn't voted in at least four years.Those who unsuccessfully filed lawsuits to give voters greater flexibility in casting provisional ballots said the high number of rejections signals a need to change Florida law. Unlike 17 other states, Florida doesn't allow people to cast provisional ballots anywhere in their home county. To be counted, the ballot has to be cast at the polling place for the person's assigned precinct. Palm Beach County Judge Barry Cohen, who chairs the county's elections canvassing board, said it pained him to reject ballots that were cast in the wrong precinct. "I was not happy with rejecting the ballots of those people who went to all the trouble to register, went to the polls and went through all the other hoopla and then, because they voted in precinct 1028 instead of 1064, their vote didn't count," he said. "The law is clear, but the law is not right," he said.  In more than one ballot, people wrote such entreaties as, "Please let my vote count." However, in many cases, the canvassing board simply couldn't.[more]