JACKSONVILLE, Fla — In 2004, the nonpartisan group HeadCount began voter registration drives at concerts and continued until COVID-19.
"This year kind of threw us for a loop because all of our events were canceled," said Joseph Guido.
Guido, a Florida HeadCount team leaders said this election cycle they were forced to engage voters electronically.
"We are doing texting campaigns all across the county," he said.
Guido said the main objective in 2004 and now is to get people registered to vote so they can be part of the voting process.
"We really believe if everyone votes then everyone will have a say in the outcome," said Guido.
Four years ago, the group registered 160,000 voters nationwide. In 2020, they have registered more than 200,000 new voters.
Their push is that voter education will produce voter planning, which means knowing how you are going to vote and how it will be counted.
In 2016, more than 20,000 Florida ballots were kicked out due to common mistakes. Common mistakes that could have been avoided. Among them, forgetting to sign your mail-in ballot.
"It has to be signed. If there is no signature, it is not accepted," Guido said.
Another common mistake is if the signature was never updated in the records and no longer matches.
Robert Phillips with the Duval County Supervisor of Elections office told On Your Side these two mistakes can be corrected if identified early.
The Chief Elections Officer said:
"If a voter returns their vote by mail ballot without a signature, or if the signature does not match the signature on file, we will notify them and give them an opportunity to “cure” it.
If a voter puts their email or phone number on their vote by mail ballot we will use that to contact them. If they do not provide that extra information we will send them a notification through the mail. Voters can also check the status of their vote by mail ballot on our website, duvalelections.com, by clicking on the vote by mail tab and following the prompts. The deadline to submit a cure affidavit is 05:00 Thursday, Nov. 5."
Another common mistake, said Guido, is over-voting. This happens when you mark more than one of the bubbles in the same section of the ballot.
"If they fill in the bubble in both," said Guido," then generally it doesn't get counted. That is an overvote.
This election cycle will see an increase in voting by mail.
Guido said to be sure your vote is counted go to the Supervisor of Elections website and verify your ballot was received and accepted.
"I think we are in really good shape here in Florida as far as voting goes," said Guido.