On February 19, the Eleventh Circuit issued a nine-page opinion in Democratic Executive Committee of Florida v National Republican Senatorial Committee, 18-14758. It ruled against the Republican Committee.

The issue was procedural. The case had been filed in 2018 against a Florida law that said if a provisional ballot is rejected because the signature on the outer envelope of the ballot doesn’t appear to resemble the signature on that voter’s registration form, the ballot should be invalidated. The voter had no means to contest the ruling invalidating the ballot. The U.S. District Court had enjoined that law, and said the voter must be given a chance to show the signature is his or hers. That was appealed in late 2018, but the Eleventh Circuit refused to disturb the injunction.

In 2019, the legislature passed a bill fixing the problem, and all sides agreed that the case became moot. But the Republican group wanted the earlier Eleventh Circuit decision erased (“vacated”). But the new ruling says the court will not erase the earlier ruling. The three judges in the new ruling are Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee; and two Trump appointees, Kevin Newsom and Britt Grant.