Texas can reject mail-in ballots over mismatched signatures without giving voters a chance to appeal

[TexasTowelie]

Texas can reject mail-in ballots over mismatched signatures without giving voters a chance to appeal, court rules

by Karen Brooks Harper, Texas Tribune


If they decide the signature on the ballot can't be verified, Texas election officials may continue rejecting mail-in ballots without notifying voters until after the election that their ballot wasn't counted, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday.

The appeals court halted a lower court’s injunction, which had not gone into effect, that would have required the Texas secretary of state to either advise local election officials that mail-in ballots may not be rejected using the existing signature-comparison process, or require them to set up a notification system giving voters a chance to challenge a rejection while their vote still counts.

Requiring such a process would compromise the integrity of the mail-in ballots “as Texas officials are preparing for a dramatic increase of mail-in voting, driven by a global pandemic,” reads the Monday opinion issued by U.S. 5th Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith.

“Texas’s strong interest in safeguarding the integrity of its elections from voter fraud far outweighs any burden the state’s voting procedures place on the right to vote,” Smith wrote.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/19/texas-mail-in-ballots-signatures/

[bullimiami]

1. so they can harvest votes for destruction? and they will, you bet.

the courts are a fucking mess.

[TexasTowelie]

2. That's why I'm going to vote in person.

My signature has changed considerably over the past few years. I rarely handwrite anything these days since my penmanship is bordering on illegible. When I was younger, I used to receive compliments on my penmanship back when people used to write checks.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. I specificallly asked this question of out BoE, since a woman I know well has a signature that...

does not match the one on her card. There was no question of fraud and I didn't bring it up when she voted, but wondered about the rule.

Signatures do change over time, and sometimes it even has to be an X if a palsy, injury, or whatever causes the inability to sign. We just let it pass most of the time. The "X" usually does require a witness, though. But not always. It is up to our judgment, but we are strongly advised to let it pass.

It is my county's (and I presume the state's) position that the right to vote is sacred and absolute. The slim, and not demonstrated, possibility of fraud should not get in the way of that right.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. So now the state of TX has handwriting experts and they'll scan millions of ballots and accurately..

judge them? Yeah, right. This is BS, total BS.

[thucythucy]

5. I wonder if someone can bring a suit under the ADA

as this would seem to affect people with disabilities--particularly people recently disabled--more than the general public.

Certainly seems both a denial of equal protection and due process.

[TexasTowelie]

6. I'm not an attorney,

but I think that a plaintiff would have to show that they have standing in a lawsuit. Since the plaintiff isn't notified that their ballot is rejected, the state avoids the prospects of a lawsuit.

[thucythucy]

7. I'm not an attorney either

though I am at least somewhat familiar with the ADA.

I suspect you're right about the issue of standing. At best, I suppose a voter might sue after the election if they could demonstrate that their valid ballot was declared invalid.

This definitely sucks.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. So, they're going to hire a bunch of people to sit there and

call up the original voter registration document and scrutinize them side-by-side and make a decision if they're close enough?

My latest registration doc is probably from when I changed addresses in 2001. Maybe my sig matches exactly or maybe it's changed in 19 years, I don't have a copy of it.

It's just going to give them an excuse to selectively pull ballots with Dem votes.

This is just voter suppression. These people are despicable.