A 2020 Surprise: Fewer Absentee Ballots Rejections Than Expected

An employee of the West Bloomfield Township Clerks office sorts absentee ballots by the precinct and ballot number at the West Bloomfield Clerks office on October 31, 2020 in West Bloomfield, Michigan. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images

Florida resident Kirk Nielsen was very careful when he went to vote this fall. He did it early, and deposited his mail-in ballot in one of many drop boxes provided by his local election office in Miami-Dade County.

“So early voting, drop box. Checked the supervisor of elections website a couple of days later and it was tabulated,” he said. “It worked swell.”

That was a relief for Nielsen, whose vote did not count in 2018. His ballot arrived too late, despite being mailed more than a week before Election Day.