(INDIANAPOLIS) — A federal judge says Indiana’s signature-match requirement for absentee ballots is unconstitutional.
A spot check of 18 large counties found they threw out nearly 200 ballots in 2018 because election workers ruled the signature on the envelope didn’t match the signature on the voter rolls. Four of those voters, including former Indianapolis State Senator Billie Breaux (D), sued after finding out their votes hadn’t been counted.
Federal Judge Sarah Evans Barker says the law is unconstitutional because voters don’t get any notice that their ballot’s been disallowed, which leaves them unable to either challenge the ruling or salvage their vote by casting it in person.
Barker notes a handwriting analysis expert testified even specialists misidentify one out of 14 signatures as phony, and election officials don’t have any training. A study found their error rate is four times higher.
Common Cause Indiana policy director Julia Vaughn says the goal isn’t to get rid of signature matching, but to carry it out in a way that doesn’t discard valid votes. She says the change may be more work for counties, but says it could be as simple as sending those voters a postcard.
The votes rejected in the 18 counties amounted to just .3% of their mailed absentee ballots — 10 counties didn’t reject any, and the county with the highest rate of disqualifications, Saint Joseph, was just .7%. Vaughn says the variance between counties is part of the problem, and says it’s unacceptable for any valid ballot to be thrown out without voters having any recourse.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson’s office declined comment.
