Sen. Bill Nelson Wednesday said he supports ending Florida’s signature match law, which now requires ballots to be tossed out if their signatures at the bottom don’t match signatures that are on file with the state.
Nelson, who is fighting to keep his Senate seat from Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott, said following the state law too closely would result in election officials overzealously tossing out ballots.
[Read more: Nelson campaign sues over Election Day deadline for Florida mail-in ballots]
“Given the closeness of this election, and the fact that the courts have declared signature-matching laws unconstitutional in several states, we expect this issue to be of considerable importance here in Florida,” said Nelson, D-Fla. “So I ask each of you, just consider whether or not you would want your ballot thrown out by an untrained, even though well-intentioned, election worker or a volunteer, all because he or she determined that your signature doesn’t look right.”
Nelson’s legal team is headed to court in Tallahassee Wednesday afternoon to argue that the signature match law not apply to the yet-undecided election.
Nelson trails Scott by about 12,000 votes. A statewide machine recount is underway, and a hand recount later this week is likely.
