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Democratic staffers planned to distribute “altered election forms” to vote-by-mail voters so they could fix signature issues on their ballots after Florida’s deadline, The Naples Daily News reports. The forms, which changed the deadline to fix signatures to Nov. 8, were reportedly found in Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa counties. The newspaper reports that the forms were supposed to say that the deadline was Nov. 5. E-mails obtained by the newspaper also indicate that a Democratic official was “organizing a broader statewide effort” to give voters altered forms and fix their incorrectly signed absentee ballots under the wrong deadline. Jennifer Kim, the party’s central Florida deputy field director, reportedly sent out the form and a “step-by-step” guide telling staffers and volunteers how to get “as many voters as possible to submit the altered form” by Nov. 8.
The newspaper reports the forms—which are similar to cure affidavits—were flagged to federal prosecutors for “possible election fraud” as recounts are currently under way. Florida’s Department of State also reportedly raised concerns about the forms, claiming that “making changes to state forms is a criminal offense in Florida.” One Democrat in Palm Beach told the newspaper the idea behind the forms was to have voters submit their corrections in the hopes that a judge would rule in favor to have the fixes count towards the vote totals. On Thursday, U.S. Chief Judge Mark Walker reportedly ruled that voters should have until Saturday to fix their ballots—opening up the door for the ballots with the altered forms to be counted.