I voted early for a candidate who dropped out of the race. What can I do about it?
With mail and early voting becoming more popular in Florida, voters are eager to get a jump on casting their ballots.
But what happens when someone votes early for a candidate who ends up dropping out of the race?
In recent days, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer, and on Thursday Elizabeth Warren, ended their campaigns just before and after Super Tuesday. That essentially leaves the Democratic field a two-man race: Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Biden before Florida’s Presidential Preference Primary Election Day, March 17.
The candidates have the prerogative to change their minds about running. You the voter, on the other hand, are stuck. Voters in Florida don’t get a do-over in the voting booth or by mail.
“In the State of Florida, you’re only allowed to vote once,” said Suzy Trutie, deputy supervisor of elections for the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.
That isn’t the case in Michigan, for example, which allows absentee-ballot voters to change their choice by requesting a new ballot to select a candidate still in the race.
Florida statutes on elections
But Florida is pretty firm on the issue, even if people have wasted a vote on a candidate who has dropped out. There’s a Florida statute that states if voters try to cast another vote if the first choice drops out — or for any other reason — they could be charged with fraud.
Anyone “who votes more than once in an election can be convicted of a felony of the third degree and fined up to $5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to five years,” the statute reads.
Sixteen names on the Democratic side — and four names on the Republican ticket that include President Donald Trump’s three challengers within his party — remain on ballots that Florida voters are sending in today by absentee or early voting. And voters also will see a bunch of names on the ballot if they go to the polls on March 17.
That’s because of another Florida statute.
If a candidate did not submit a formal withdrawal by Dec. 9, 2019, the candidate’s name must remain on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot.
So, yes, you can still vote for Marianne Williamson or Cory Booker or Julian Castro if you’re a registered Democrat.
A vote cast for any candidate appearing on the ballot will count as a vote for that candidate,” Trutie said.
Some states, like Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, do allow a citizen a new vote on an absentee ballot by voiding the first one.
In Michigan, for instance, voters have until March 9 to go to their county clerk’s office, sign a request for a new ballot, and fill out the new one, according to the Detroit Free Press.
But it’s a laborious process as the clerk has to retrieve and “spoil” the original ballot so the new one takes its place, according to Michigan Live.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 3:53 PM.
