Floridians who've had ballots rejected over signatures get chance to correct issue, judge rules

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A federal judge ruled early Thursday that thousands of voters who’ve had their ballots rejected due to issues with their signatures will have until Saturday to resolve the issue and possibly get a chance to have their votes counted, according to a report.

The Washington Post linked to the court's ruling and reported that the decision affects more than 4,000 ballots across 45 counties in the state that were set aside, according to the judge’s opinion. It is unclear how many other ballots were affected in other counties.

Uzoma Nkwonta, a lawyer for Sen. Bill Nelson, argued that the state should delay deadlines.

“There’s zero reason why this election and the recount and the certification of votes needs to occur on Nov. 20,” Nkwonta argued, according to Fox 35 Orlando.

Democrats asked U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to throw out the state’s existing signature match law. They say untrained experts should not be allowed to decide if someone’s signature on a mail-in ballot doesn’t match the signature included on a registration form that could be years old.

The lawsuit is one of a half-dozen related to Florida’s ongoing recount that involves three statewide races including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s race against Gov. Rick Scott. Nelson, a Democrat, trails Scott, a Republican, by about 12,500 votes, down from Scott’s 56,000-vote lead on election night, Fox Orlando reported.

The paper reported that the ruling gives Nelson a chance to chip away at Scott's lead, but would be unlikely to change the race's outcome.

Scott's campaign is expected to appeal, the report said.