Question: Absentee Ballots in Florida - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

cataklysm · 10-25-2004, 09:24 PM

Hi everyone,
I'm from Florida and I recently sent in my absentee ballot to vote in that state because I am going to college in another state. I heard that absentee ballots are only counted if the election is practically a tie or extremely close. Is this true? I would hope that my vote would be tallied in the beginning just like everyone else's.

Thanks

Bikkin · 10-26-2004, 03:00 PM

I don't think so, I'm not sure though. I thought that only happened with ones from overseas.

iccky · 10-26-2004, 03:05 PM

Absentee ballots are always counted. I was trained to be a poll watcher in PA, and here they take the absentee ballots and mix them in with the regular ballots before any counting takes place, so they are counted at exactly the same time.

However, some states allow your absentee ballot to arrive after election day. So while your ballot will still be counted, it usually isn't enough to make a difference (if candidate A is winning by 1000 with all the regular votes counted and there are only 100 absentee ballots, candidate A will be declared the winner even though the eventual margin of victory may only be 900). It will, however, be reflected in the official election results, and could still decide an election that is very close (In Iowa, Bush won the regular vote but Gore had enough of a lead in the absentee votes to win it).

10-25-2004, 09:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
cataklysm Tilted Location: New York	Question: Absentee Ballots in Florida Hi everyone, I'm from Florida and I recently sent in my absentee ballot to vote in that state because I am going to college in another state. I heard that absentee ballots are only counted if the election is practically a tie or extremely close. Is this true? I would hope that my vote would be tallied in the beginning just like everyone else's. Thanks

10-26-2004, 03:00 PM	#2 (permalink)
Bikkin Upright	I don't think so, I'm not sure though. I thought that only happened with ones from overseas.

10-26-2004, 03:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
iccky Psycho Location: Princeton, NJ	Absentee ballots are always counted. I was trained to be a poll watcher in PA, and here they take the absentee ballots and mix them in with the regular ballots before any counting takes place, so they are counted at exactly the same time. However, some states allow your absentee ballot to arrive after election day. So while your ballot will still be counted, it usually isn't enough to make a difference (if candidate A is winning by 1000 with all the regular votes counted and there are only 100 absentee ballots, candidate A will be declared the winner even though the eventual margin of victory may only be 900). It will, however, be reflected in the official election results, and could still decide an election that is very close (In Iowa, Bush won the regular vote but Gore had enough of a lead in the absentee votes to win it).