LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Is it legal to change your vote after submitting an absentee ballot? A recent tweet by President Donald Trump has many in Florida wondering if this is possible.
Early Tuesday morning, the President sent out a tweet telling voters that if they previously mailed in a ballot in favor of his opponent Joe Biden, they have the opportunity to go to their local poll site to change their vote to support him instead.
The President says this practice is legal in most states. This then caused a spike in Google searches in Florida with people asking, 'can I change my vote after voting?’.
The answer?
"No, there are no do-overs. Once you’ve cast your ballot, that's it," says Trish Robertson, Public Relations officer for the Collier County supervisor of elections.
What the president is referring to is legal in Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Voters who mail in absentee ballots voting for one candidate have time to change their minds and vote for a different candidate in-person at the polls.
When this happens, the original ballot is nullified and does not count.
But here in Florida, voting twice, whether on purpose or by accident, is a form of voter fraud.
Peter Bergerson, a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, explains the seriousness of the crime behind casting more than one ballot.
"If you vote more than once that would be a felony. You would be arrested if they caught you or found out that you did," says Bergerson.
Bergerson says he is confident in the state’s system this year to combat voter fraud. He believes the outcome of this election will be fair, no matter who wins.
"The likelihood of corruption, the likelihood of fraud having an impact on the outcome I think is very minimal," says Bergerson.
