As President Donald Trump and others express concerns about ballots materializing in Florida after the Nov. 6 election, some advocates are reminding people that many of these ballots are likely coming from military voters and U.S. citizens living overseas.
In Florida in particular, if a ballot coming from overseas from a registered voter is postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 6, it will be counted if it arrives by Nov. 16. Over the years, many states have enacted legislation that extended deadlines for these voters to make sure the ballots get there to be counted.
“As far as I’m concerned, this [Florida] election isn’t over until Nov. 16. That’s legal, and any ballot from a military voter or citizen overseas that’s postmarked by the 6th and arrives by the 16th has a right to be counted and should be included in the certified ballot count,”said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of U.S. Vote Foundation and Overseas Vote.
In a Nov. 12 tweet calling for the Florida election for Senate and governor to be called in favor of the two Republicans who are leading by a slight margin, Trump said “large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere.”
“We can’t expect our president to know every itty bitty law. Let me give him a break on that. … Florida is not alone in this. It is now common practice to have an extended ballot return deadline for [military and overseas] voters. He may not know that. This is an opportunity to educate people that that’s how it is in many, many states. This is the norm, to have extended deadlines,” said Dzieduszycka-Suinat, a U.S. citizen living in Germany. The nonprofit U.S. Vote Foundation’s mission is to make it easier for American citizens living anywhere in the world to successfully vote, helping them navigate through numerous state requirements, including deadlines. These voters are commonly referred to as UOCAVA voters, because their voting rights are covered under the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
“We put so much effort into tracking the details as to what deadlines are. They’re really complex," she said. "Extended deadlines are the norm, not the exception. Florida is generous. Ten days is probably on the outside of the length of the extended deadlines. Georgia, by contrast, has a three day extended deadline. If postmarked by Nov. 6, it could be received by Nov. 9.”
Every vote makes a difference. In the latest count, Florida Republican Rick Scott was leading Democrat Bill Nelson by less than 13,000 votes in the Senate race. And Republican Ron DeSantis was leading Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than 34,000 votes.
In the 2016 presidential election, Florida reported that 78,382 absentee ballots from military and overseas voters were counted, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Of those, 50,036 were military. Dzieduszycka-Suinat said she expects the number of UOCAVA absentee ballots to be similar to the 2016 number, rather than similar to past midterms, which had traditionally lower voter turnouts.
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Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner has ordered a statewide machine recount for both races, with the results to be filed no later than 3 p.m. on Nov. 15 — a day earlier than the deadline for UOCAVA ballots to be received.
Dzieduszycka-Suinat said she assumes the ballots being referred to that surfaced after Election Day were UOCAVA ballots. “What other ballots are allowed to continue to arrive? None.
“These ballots weren’t found. They continued to arrive, and will continue to arrive until the extended deadline is over. This is a legal thing. Remember that our military are far away, and the laws reflect protections that were provided to them" by Congress and by state legislatures, she said.
The UOCAVA law was expanded in 2009 when Congress passed the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE). Every state has to be able to allow UOCAVA voters to request their ballot online, and get the ballot delivered online. The MOVE Act also requires election officials to submit the ballot to UOCAVA voters 45 days before the election.
With these, along with the extended ballot deadline for return, “We now have time to vote. That’s exactly what the voters are telling us,” Dzieduszycka-Suinat said. Service members and spouses overseas can also send their ballots by express mail through Military Postal Service Agency post offices.
Dzieduszycka-Suinat said preliminary results show that 97 percent of the UOCAVA voters who have responded to their Election Day voter experience survey said they received their ballot in time to return it; 74 percent returned them on paper by mail or express mail. “That is a successful formula for UOCAVA election integrity,” she said.
“For UOCAVA voters, our reality is that the ability to return a ballot within the allowable deadline — be it extended or not — has greatly improved. Our ability to get our ballots in time for counting is night and day to what it was 10 years ago.”
“I’m going to assume that most of [the military and overseas ballots] are in,” she said.
Dzieduszycka-Suinat said she’s seen increased voter interest in these elections.
“Our foundation saw UOCAVA activity increase by a factor of nine or 10 compared to the 2014 midterms,” she said. “From the standpoint of our website, we’ve never had this much action for midterms,” she said. “Midterms in the past went unnoticed … until this year.”
“This midterm overseas voters woke up and realized, ‘Oh yeah, I actually can vote every two years.' It’s been great. A huge increase.”
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
