More than 1,300 notices have been sent out to voters in Orange County who need to “cure” their ballot -- a process set up to fix ballots that may have issues like signatures that don’t match or are missing.
Voters can fill out an affidavit when a signature on a mail-in ballot does not match a signature on file or the ballot is missing a signature to “cure” the ballot. Instructions and the affidavit form for Florida voters can be found here.
Orange County’s Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean said without a cure, a ballot may not be counted.
“Let's say, God forbid, they needed a cure, then they would get an alert via text message, email and a phone call from us to say, ‘please go in and cure your ballot before 5pm on Thursday after the election, so then that way your voice can be heard in this election,’” Gilzean said.
At the Supervisor of Elections Office in Orange County, a ballot is flagged using public tests, software applications and staff members. Once flagged, it is passed on to a canvassing board for final review.
Christopher Heath is the Public Information Officer for Orange County’s Supervisor of Elections office. He said sometimes people’s signatures change, and by having a voter cure their ballot, it closes the voting loop for people.
“You are sending the ballot to somebody and trusting that the person who received it is the one who filled it back,” Heath said. “So it's good old fashioned election security and signatures change.”
Heath said as of Monday afternoon, only 680 ballots need to be “cured.”
Under Florida law, all ballots must be cured by 5 p.m. two days after the election. If voters still have not filled out their mail-in ballots, Heath said to drop it off directly to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Ballot mailed may not make it by the deadline of 7 p.m. on election day.
If someone wants to vote in person but still has their mail-in ballot, you can surrender it and vote in person on election day.
