By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
A coalition of civil rights and voting rights groups want Arizona elections officials to give voters a chance to correct the record before their early ballots are rejected over mismatched signatures, and may sue if new policies aren’t put in place for next month’s election.
When voters submit their early ballots by mail or at polling places, they must sign the envelope to affirm their identity. Elections officials then check those signatures against the signatures from voter registration records. If they believe a signature doesn’t match, they reject the ballot, and it isn’t counted.
The American Civil Liberties Union, League of United Latin American Citizens, League of Women Voters of Arizona and several other groups are asking Secretary of State Michele Reagan to instruct Arizona’s 15 county recorders to contact any voters whose ballot is rejected due to a mismatched signature and give them an opportunity to confirm that they had, in fact, signed the ballot.
