If You Are Turned Away At The Poles

Florida court rules provisional ballots cast in wrong precinct don't count

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ Florida's high court has ruled that residents must vote at their proper precinct if they want their vote to count.

Under Florida law, if election officials can't find a record showing a resident is registered to vote, the voter can still vote using a provisional ballot. The ballot counts if officials later determine the person was legally entitled to vote there. If not, vote is thrown out.

But a group of labor unions said this disenfranchises voters who may not know their polling place. Unions say such voters could be confused due to redistricting or because they were displaced by a hurricane.

Today's unanimous state Supreme Court rejects those arguments.

The court says requiring voters using the provisional ballots to show up at the correct precinct is no more unreasonable than asking every other voter to do the same thing.

it's poll not pole