U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has handed the Florida Democratic party a second court victory in less than a week. Both of his decisions bode well for Democrats in November’s election. Last Wednesday, Walker ruled that the state’s voter-registration deadline must be extended a week in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. And yesterday, Walker again sided with the Florida Democratic party, confirming that voters now have until 5 p.m. the day before the election to fix absentee ballot signatures, if their ballot signature differs from that of the voter-registration form. Previously, only ballots with contradicting signatures were thrown out.
Walker’s ruling requires the Secretary of State to have county election supervisors notify any voter with conflicting signatures so that their error can be fixed before election day. This notification, he argued, would be appropriate since election supervisors already notify those who forget to sign their absentee ballots before election day.
“It is illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre for the State of Florida to withhold the opportunity to cure from mismatched-signature voters while providing that same opportunity to no-signature voters,” Walker said. He also explained that under current law, voters with poor handwriting — or “handwriting that has changed over time” — may have their votes thrown out.
Walker’s decision to rule Florida’s election laws unconstitutional is a boon for the state’s Democratic candidates this election cycle.
As I wrote for National Review Online last week while reporting on Florida Governor Rick Scott’s opposition to the voter-registration deadline extension:
Scott had said that the original voter-registration deadline of Tuesday had allowed residents more than enough time, and suggested that the demand to extend the deadline was politically motivated. He may be right: Florida is the largest swing state, and last election cycle 80 percent of the 156,000 Floridians who registered just days before the deadline were Democrats. The Democratic party would unquestionably benefit from an extended voter-registration deadline.
As a result of Walker’s latest ruling, Florida will likely see a significant increase in Democratic votes cast on November 8 in comparison to previous election cycles. For example, in 2012, an estimated 1 percent of all Florida mail-in ballots were rejected (23,000 out of 2.3 million). A study by University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith showed that of those 23,000 ballots, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to be rejected. And if those 23,000 voters — who primarily voted Democrat — had an opportunity to fix their absentee ballots like they do this year, the outcome of the 2012 elections may have been drastically different.
Florida is a key battleground state for the presidential election, another reason why Walker argued that the current laws could alter the election results on November 8, and “by extension, our country’s future.” Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in Florida by an average of 3.5 percent, but with Walker’s new rulings, that percentage may continue to grow come election day.