Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/25/federal-court-thinks-georgia-s.html
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I haven’t seen the language, but do they specify any guide to how one judges the signature is not a match? My own signature has changed over the years. At best it seems arbitrary, at worst deliberately vague to allow partisan interference (which I think we all know is the real intent.)
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I believe they are allowing citizens to check and see if their ballot was counted and to complain* if it was not – in California you can do this via the interwebs, a series of tubes created by academics.
– this may be my Californian-ness reading into things and not actual
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If any Georgia department uses signature tablets, especially the blind ones without a screen, then it’s a farce.
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Right, but I was addressing the original law here, tossing absentee ballots because the signature doesn’t match-- how does one decide if it’s a match? If they can see the signature then they can see the party affiliation and vote too I suspect.
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What a silly judge.
The process of holding a free and fair election, and the process of not electing a black woman Governor are not coextensive. Strengthen one at the expense of the other; Abrams might win if the GOP can’t keep its thumb on the scale.
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I assume this is the equivalent of Floridian hanging chad.
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She clearly does not understand the constitution and needs it mansplained to her. I mean, the “she” in the story reveals her bias from the get go! Allowing the state to disregard “unacceptable” votes is vital to protecting the historical constitutional rights of wealthy white males to make the rules and run the show. I mean, seriously, does she not understand her place? (Even as sarcasm, I feel a little sick writing this.)
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My signature can change several times a day, it depends on what I’m signing. A bag of snacks from the store gets a scribble when I use my card to pay for it, but when I sign for a car loan, it’s all clean and legible.
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For absentee ballots, you sign the security envelope. Your ballot is sealed inside. They won’t have access to your party affiliation or vote unless they open the security envelope.
That’s how it works in Oregon anyway ~ all of our elections are done by absentee ballot.
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Here you go:
http://www.gand.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/LMM18_4789_Doc28.pdf
Basically, the Registrar checks your application for an absentee ballot against your voter registration card.
That does not appear to have your party affiliation on it.
https://www.claytoncountyga.gov/government/elections-and-registration/precinct-card
Assuming you pass that check, you get to file an absentee ballot in due course. That can be weeks later.
Once you’ve done that (if you get that far) they then check the signature/mark on the outside of your absentee ballot against your registration card
Upon receipt of each absentee ballot, the registrar or clerk must once again
compare the elector’s oath signature or mark made on the outside of the envelope
with the signature or mark on the absentee elector’s voter registration card.
If at any point the Registrar/their staff think the signatures don’t match, they get to reject your application/your ballot.
You can’t appeal or challenge that. You do get to submit a fresh application/ballot if you have time or vote in person (if you can).
I’m not sure whether the proposed injunction is better or worse.
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I voted absentee in Georgia (signature and all), and it works the same way here as you describe it in Oregon.
But don’t ask me whether I trust that this election will be correctly administered.
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Total derail, but my handwriting is terrible. I decided in my 20’s that my signature too closely resembled my second grade cursive (truly, my cursive has not improved since then) and so I intentionally changed my signature to more closely resemble the illegible scribblings of middle aged doctors. Less readable, but more adult looking at least.
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So you get one chance to vote while they get multiple opportunities to toss your vote, based one a personal opinion of whether signatures match. At least if voters are allowed to appeal it could become a headache for the Register if they get inundated with appeals. And that won’t stop them from trying some other tactic later.
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It could be worse. It could be apple.
“Just sign with your finger”
Well, assuming you started the process early enough, you do get multiple chances to vote. I grant that’s a big assumption.
It’s also going to be a headache for voters who get a ‘provisional ballot’ which subsequently gets rejected.
As far as I can tell they will have lost their vote whereas at present they can simply try again.
“Permitting an absentee voter to resolve an alleged signature discrepancy … has the very tangible benefit of avoiding disenfranchisement,” said the judge, a nominee of President Barack Obama.
Avoiding disenfranchisement? Lefty lefty lib-lib-liberal Obama-loving socialist and their pro-democracy agenda! Eat what’s put before you!
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My handwriting is awful too. When I took the GRE, they made me write out a statement in cursive, I had to declare that I am who I say I am, and that I won’t cheat on the test. For me that was the hardest part of taking that test.
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Why is that? Are you trying to make sure you can never weasel out of the loan. If someone stole your identity and used chicken scratch like you do on your other receipts do you think the lender would even notice?
I signed a lot of paperwork for a new house over the last few weeks. And did it all electronic, I had to draw my signature with a mouse. Docusign is nice enough to smooth the shaky bits out of my signature so it doesn’t look too terrible when it’s shrunk down to fit on the document.
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I don’t know, I probably put more focus on my signature simply due to the level of commitment that goes something like an auto loan. It’s probably the environment too, with a finance person sitting right there watching me fill out the paperwork.
Did they actually accept e-signatures during closing? That to me would be kind of weird since that’s the moment of truth when buying a property. There was almost a ceremonial aspect to closing when I went through all of that.
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