WE have very strict voter ID requirements including 12 forms of acceptable picture ID and must have a signature ID as well if picture ID doesn't contain a signature. That's not awful because student ID's, VA ID's, military ID's, government worker IDs are accepted as well as drivers license and FL ID. But here, if you don't have this identification, you don't vote except provisional which are never counted.

Unless the election is close enough for them to matter? I can see not bothering to count provisional ballots if there is no race close enough for the provisional ballots to change the outcome, but never?

Don't know if this is just the state of FL, but that's what the election law attorney told us.

The reason one casts a provisional ballot is because a problem exists with one's registration. If the person does not follow up and resolve the issue, then that ballot is not counted. I suppose by definition, that provisional ballot is converted into a regular ballot, so any that remain provisional are never counted.

But I don't like the simple statement that provisional ballots are never counted. If you have to, cast a provisional ballot and do what is needed to make it count. Don't give up because someone tried to suppress your vote.

Better to go home and get the identification and then vote regular than to vote provisional and try to correct it later, at least in this state. With early voting, we have until 11/4 to Early vote and of course there's always the designated election day, 11/6. Provisional ballots are almost impossible to resolve here, where the Supervisor of Elections is strongly red.