[EL] “ACLU Challenges New Hampshire Voter Signature-Matching Law”

[Kevin Benson]

Regarding the ACLU’s challenge to signature matching – isn’t it common practice in many states to use signature matching both for absentee / mail ballots, and also to sign people in at the polling location? Do most states have some kind of follow-up for ballots that are rejected? What do Oregon and Colorado do?

Should this suit succeed, presumably states would be required to implement some sort of follow-up procedures for non-matching signatures. Or perhaps it would drive states to instead try to implement some other front-end procedure, like perhaps a kind of voter pin number or something. But that could present a whole other set of problems, like how to securely deliver it, people forgetting / losing it, etc. I’m curious if other states have adopted such mechanisms. Anyone know?

Cheers,
Kevin

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 8:40 PM
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/11/17


“ACLU Challenges New Hampshire Voter Signature-Matching Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92466>
Posted on May 10, 2017 7:56 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92466> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-challenges-new-hampshire-voter-signature-matching-law>
The American Civil Liberties Union today sued New Hampshire for invalidating the absentee ballots of hundreds of voters, many of whom are disabled, without warning.
At issue is a state law that allows election officials — who have no handwriting-analysis expertise — to reject an absentee ballot, without giving notice to the voter, if they think there is a signature mismatch in the voter’s paperwork. People with disabilities are far more likely to have fluctuating handwriting or to require the assistance of someone to sign their name, as allowed under federal disability rights law.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>



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