Judge rules North Carolina must strengthen absentee ballot witness rule

[Eugene]

Source: WTVD/AP

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal judge ordered North Carolina on Wednesday to ensure that absentee ballots have a witness signature in a mixed ruling that allows voters to fix other more minor problems without casting a new ballot from scratch.

Judge William Osteen issued an injunction requiring state officials to revise a directive issued Sept. 22 that allowed voters to fix a lack of a witness signature by returning an affidavit and not casting a new ballot from scratch. However, he said he wouldn't block that kind of fix for small errors such as an incomplete witness address or a signature in the wrong place.

Osteen, who was presiding over three election-related lawsuits, struck a middle ground between voting rights advocates wh voice concern about due process for voters with ballot problems and Republican leaders who want the rules for the mail-in ballots to be followed.

In one excerpt, Osteen wrote, "In all candor, this court cannot conceive of a more problematic conflict with the provisions than the procedures implemented by the (Board of Elections') revised 2020-19 memo and the Consent Order. Through this abandonment of the witness requirement, some class of voters will be permitted to submit ballots with no verification. Though SBE suggests that its 'cure' is sufficient to protect against voter fraud, the cure provided has few safeguards: it asks only if the voter 'voted' with no explanation of the manner in which that vote was exercised."

-snip-

WTVD-AP
Updated an hour ago


Read more: https://abc11.com/nc-absentee-ballots-voting-elections-judge-rules/7031962/

[dchill]

1. Judge Osteen. Osteen? Really?

[bullimiami]

2. What happened to courts not changing election rules close to voting? Now it's judicial mayhem

with voting underway.

[KT2000]

3. Senator Whitehouse is telling us

the judicial has been bought and paid for.

[KT2000]

4. Why make it so difficult

of course I know the answer but our state has signature matching when the counties count the votes. Banks use signature matching as well. It has worked for decades.

[csziggy]

9. They make it difficult to suppress the vote

And for those getting older or who have had injuries, signature matching is not great. I've had several injuries to my hands and operations on both. That, along with getting old means arthritis in both hands. Some days my signature matches the one on my ten year old driver's license or on my almost forty year old voter registration signature on file. Some days it is completely different.

In 2018 our Supervisor of Elections moved to using digital pads for getting the signature - and did not provide a stylus. My signature made with my finger looked nothing like any signature I have ever made and the poll worker almost contested it. My photo ID did match so she let me vote.

This year they are using a stylus, but my signature still does not match my old ones. The digital pad does not allow angling the way I do with everything I have ever signed and it does not have a rest for my wrist to steady my hand - of course my signature does not match.

So before you get too invested in signature matching, think about factors such as this.

[lagomorph777]

11. I can't sign my name the same way twice; never had that skill. Signature matching is a scam.

It's totally subjective; it's intended to let the vote counters discard any votes they don't like.

[spooky3]

5. Appointed by a Republican (GHW Bush). Quelle surprise! nt

[Indyfan53]

6. Fuck! Better warn people!

Make sure their ballots don’t get rejected!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. At least NC doesn't require the ballot to be notarized, like a few states.

Getting a document notarized is a bit more painful in this time of Covid.

Know the rules, jump through the hoops, make sure your vote counts.

Michigan is easier: no witness, just put the ballot in the privacy envelope, put that inside the mailing envelope, and sign it. And some still get rejected.

[csziggy]

8. Requiring notarization is a poll tax

Here, finding a notary is sometimes hard. I'm lucky - I know one. Banks used to have notaries, some businesses, such as FedEx used to provide the service. Now FedEX discourages their employees from acting as a notary during their work hours. The bank I use only provides notaries for contracts with them, such as mortgages.

If I didn't have a friend who was a notary, I'd have to go to my attorney's office and pay her employee who is a notary to perform that duty. Fees used to sun $10-25. I am not sure what they are now since it has been a very long time since I've had to pay for that service.

[marie999]

10. I use Bank of America and they will notarize my signature on any document. Check with your banker.