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

[Adam Bonin]

Signature-matching also comes into play for the verification of signatures
on candidate nomination petitions, whether performed by the relevant board
of elections or, in jurisdictions like mine, via an adversarial litigation
process in which handwriting experts occasionally testify, but certainly
are not required.

Adam C. Bonin
The Law Office of Adam C. Bonin
30 South 15th Street
15th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19102

(267) 242-5014 (c)
(215) 701-2321 (f)
adam at boninlaw.com
http://www.boninlaw.com

On Thu, May 11, 2017 at 11:40 AM, Kevin Benson <kbenson at allisonmackenzie.com
> wrote:

> 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.*
>
> [image: hare]
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92466&title=%E2%80%9CACLU%20Challenges%20New%20Hampshire%20Voter%20Signature-Matching%20Law%E2%80%9D>
>
> Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>
>
>
>
> PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL:This message originates from the law firm of
> Allison MacKenzie, Ltd. This message and any file(s) or attachment(s)
> transmitted with it are confidential and may include information subject to
> the attorney-client privilege, information protected by the attorney work
> product doctrine, or information which is otherwise proprietary, a trade
> secret or protected against unauthorized use or disclosure. This message
> and any file(s) or attachment(s) transmitted with it are transmitted based
> on a reasonable expectation of privacy. Any disclosure, distribution,
> copying, or use of this information by anyone other than the intended
> recipient, regardless of address or routing, is strictly prohibited. If you
> receive this message in error, please advise the sender by immediate reply
> and delete the original message. A&M-ver.-xz1.1
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170511/6484330e/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170511/6484330e/attachment.png>