Voting is our most sacred right as Americans, and secrecy is key to the whole process. That’s because fairness at the ballot box – or at the post office – is crucial.

But, voters’ party affiliation is being printed right on their mail-in ballot envelopes.


What You Need To Know

  • Florida Statute 101.041 requires all ballots be kept secret.

  • Manatee’s supervisor of elections says he wasn’t aware of the issue.

  • He plans to fix it.

It was brought to light after this week’s primary elections, when a Florida woman claimed an “R” on her ballot envelope’s barcode stood for “Republican,” and the “D” on her brother’s stood for “Democrat.”

The video went viral – and even got the attention of President Trump.

He retweeted it.

It turns out – she was right. Spectrum News did some digging, and found at why.

“I never payed any attention to it,” Michael Bennett said. Manatee County’s Supervisor of Elections explained the party identification was used to expedite the process, when ballots were counted by hand.

“At the time when the ballots would come in, they would sort the Democrats and the Republicans because of recounting purposes,” Bennett said.

He told Spectrum News that no one has noticed – or at least not complained – until now.

But, he has already decided to take action.

“We made up our mind, we are going to take it off.”

Bennet says, if you’re still concerned, it’s best to drop off your mail-in ballot at your local elections office.