(WSVN) - A mail-in ballot is supposed to be a convenient way to vote from home, but one Broward woman says it was anything but, when her ballot arrived without one of the most talked about issues.
Florida voters will decide whether or not to legalize the use of medical marijuana when they choose “Yes” or “No” on Amendment 2 this November. But that’s only if the amendment is on the ballot.
At least one Broward County voter said her mail-in ballot skipped Amendment 2 altogether.
“But it’s like when you go to a restaurant, something’s not on the menu, you don’t order it,” Norm Kent, the voter’s attorney said. “So you fill out the ballot, you go from page one, and you’ll see it, you go from page one to two, and it goes from Amendment 1 to Amendment 3. There’s no Amendment 2 on it.”
Kent filed a lawsuit, Thursday. He wants to get it before a judge immediately in hopes of resolving the issue by election day.
He said that if there’s one incorrect ballot out there, there could be more.
“We have to find out whether there’s 100 ballots, 1,000 ballots or 10,000 ballots,” Kent said.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes said they only know of two such ballots that have been sent out, and seven at most.
“We have not received calls from any other voters that that amendment is missing,” Snipes said.
Snipes said the ballots may have been test ballots that were mistakenly sent out.
She told the Sun Sentinel, Thursday, “When you’re dealing with this much paper and this many people, we may have made a mistake, but I haven’t heard a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t have it either.'”
Kent warned anyone using the mail-in-ballot system to check their ballots for the amendment.
“We need a judge to act expeditiously and promptly to effectuate a ruling that protects the rights of the voters in Broward County,” Kent said.
Broward Mayor Marty Kiar said he believes Snipes will make sure any problems are fixed. “I believe that Dr. Snipes, our supervisor of elections, is gonna do everything she can possibly do to make sure that this election is run smoothly and fairly, and that every single person gets the right to vote.”
So far, 173,000 ballots have been mailed out, and 60,000 have been returned.
Officials said every ballot that comes in will be checked for the amendment.
“The point being that if a voter has an issue with the ballot, we want them to contact us right away so we can put something in place to get that ballot replaced for the voter,” Snipes said.
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