Some ballots are being thrown out in the upcoming election

LEE COUNTY,FLa. – The election hasn’t happened yet, and already some ballots are getting rejected.

Lee County elections officials are blaming new technology, meant to streamline the voting process.  Officials say they can’t read some signatures, sending about 200 ballots to the trash.

The problem stems from the electronic signature pads. Signatures, are not matching mail-in ballot signatures leaving hundreds of votes rejected.

Many Floridians get their drivers’ licenses, and register to vote, at the same time. The electronic pad voters sign becomes their official signature for the the elections office.

Recently, for an unknown reason, the pads seem to produce some illegible signatures. The Lee Elections Office uses three people to try to match the signatures, in some cases, they have to reject the ballot.

Larry Hart, the Lee County Tax Collector, runs the drivers license area, and the electronic pads.

Hart says, the state has money to buy new equipment to replace the current pads. He expects that to happen in the next few months.

Some voters suggest that the elections office contact people, if there is a signature problem.  It turns out, that’s against the election rules.

Ballots are considered legally entered once the elections officials check it in. They cannot contact the voter until after the election, to explain why the vote was rejected.