A push by Republicans in North Carolina to allow signature matching when processing absentee ballots was rejected last week by the state board of elections.
As summarized by a report published in a North Carolina outlet, worries about the possibility of different mail-in voting standards in various counties were among the issues referenced by board members against the Republican proposal. “We’ve got an extraordinarily secure absentee ballot process now, and to do this would introduce a level of uncertainty where some voters might be treated different than other voters depending on how they vote,” elections board Chair Damon Circosta remarked. The Republican proposal wouldn’t have mandated signature matching, but it would’ve allowed it for mail-in ballot requests and the eventual ballots themselves, although the signatures aren’t placed on the ballots, to be clear. They’re on materials accompanying the ballot, helping with maintaining voters’ privacy past the point of initial verification.
Mandating but not allowing signature matching — meaning the comparison of submitted signatures with signatures already on file for particular voters — could’ve easily meant substantially different standards for voting across counties. The signature matching process itself is dubious. Voters’ signatures can significantly change due to everyday developments such as suffering from an illness, getting older, or something even simpler. There is no real-world evidence of fraud or another issue with mail-in voting in North Carolina — or any other state — at a scale that would suggest wholesale changes to the voting process. Besides all these factors, North Carolina already has a rigorous security system for mail-in ballots in place. Among other measures, two witnesses or a notary must be present for the completion of absentee ballots in the state.
North Carolina Republican Party chair Michael Whatley indicated an appeal of the board of elections decision to the Wake County Superior Court was possible. Before eventually voting on the GOP proposal last week, the elections board held a public comment period in which more than 8,000 pieces of input came in. Caroline Fry, who works at the advocacy group Democracy NC, said before the board’s vote: “Adding this additional layer, which is just another burden that someone will have to overcome to actually be able to cast their ballot, is being done under the guise of election integrity.” Other recently emerging GOP election reform pushes include a measure passed by the Pennsylvania legislature but vetoed by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf that would’ve allowed any resident (otherwise meeting the requirements) to serve as a poll watcher anywhere in the state. That would’ve essentially legalized the organized targeting of certain areas for potential voter intimidation — depending on tactics used by these poll watchers — by far-flung individuals.
