Your Signature on Your Vote-By-Mail Ballot is Important!

Tens of thousands of absentee or vote-by-mail ballots across the United States are not counted due to problems an elections office may have with verifying the voter's signature on the ballot, called a signature mismatch. Signature verification is the process of comparing the signature on a voter’s vote-by-mail ballot with that voter’s signature in their state’s voter registration system. If the signature on a voter’s ballot does not match the one in the system, the ballot is either challenged or rejected. In nineteen states, if a ballot is challenged for signature discrepancy, the state requires registrars to notify the voter of the mismatch and provide the voter the opportunity to fix the signature so the vote can, ultimately, be counted. Thirty-one states, however, do not require registrars to notify a voter of a mismatched signature or give that voter the opportunity to remedy their signature. In those states, the ballot is simply rejected and not counted.

This webinar informs eligible and registered voters about the importance of their signatures on absentee and vote-by-mail ballots. Given the national push to vote by mail as a means of protecting voters against COVID-19, it is critical that voters know the importance of their signatures on their ballots, enabling them to vote with the confidence that their ballots will be counted.

This webinar is grounded in the research of the Every Vote Counts Stanford Law and Policy Lab report (May 2020), which outlines the signature verification, notification, and cure process as practiced in California.