Orange County

Problems reported with thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — Election Day is less than a day away, and about 9 million people in Florida have already cast their ballots.

With the pandemic, many people are choosing the vote-by-mail option, but there have already been problems with hundreds of ballots.

But it’s not too late to fix any problems.

Watch: Central Florida counties hire ballot drop box security guards to discourage copycat arson attacks

Officials in Orange County said if you sent your ballot in and have a problem, you have until 5 p.m. on Thursday to verify you sent in the ballot.

“We’re 100,000-plus more voters than have ever voted before in the vote-by-mail process here in Orange County,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles.

But not everyone’s vote has been counted.

In Orange County, hundreds of ballots have been flagged for problems.

Watch: Tourism industry pushes for fewer restrictions on international flights into Orlando

The canvassing board has been going through them, and many of them do not have a signature or the signature doesn’t match the one on file with the supervisor of elections' office.

Voters can check if their vote was counted on the vote-by-mail section of your supervisor of elections website.

If you see a problem, it’s not too late to fix it.

The supervisor should have already sent a “cure affidavit,” which is a form you fill out and send in, along with a copy of your I-D, like a driver’s license, to verify you sent in the ballot in question.

Watch: Central Florida lawmakers briefed on foreign election interference efforts

Voters can drop the documentation off in person at the supervisor’s office, or even email or fax it to your supervisor’s office.

By law in Florida, voters have until 5 p.m. two days after the election to get that in to make your vote count.

“We’re doing everything we can to reach out to the voter,” Cowles said. “But if you see on the tracker system, that your ballot needs to be corrected, then you should be calling us to find out how to get that affidavit.”

See the full report in the video above.

Jeff Deal

Jeff Deal, WFTV.com

I joined the Eyewitness News team as a reporter in 2006.