Counties can reject a voter’s mail-in ballot if election officials cannot verify the voter’s signature, according to a ruling from the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 19.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a district court’s decision Sept. 8 that absentee ballots cannot be rejected if there are mismatched signatures. Depending on their county, the voter may not receive notification until a maximum of 10 days after the election.
In the written opinion of Judge Jerry E. Smith, he said signature verification requirements were “less burdensome” than voter photo ID requirements. The lower court also did not provide sufficient evidence that there wouldn’t be voter fraud, Smith said.
“It (1) mistakenly focuses only on the burden to the plaintiffs — instead of voters as a whole — and (2) neglects meaningfully to analyze binding precedent concerning what constitutes a ‘severe’ burden on the right to vote,” Smith said in the opinion.
Hani Mirza, a senior attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the organization has gotten numerous complaints about mismatched signatures from voters during past elections. Mirza said they filed a lawsuit in 2019 challenging the constitutionality of the signature comparison procedure and the fact that it doesn't require counties to provide voters an option to fix their ballot.
“We expect it to be worse this election,” Mirza said. “We were concerned about an increase in the number of ballots rejected per signature mismatch this election because of the increase in mail-in ballot voters this election because of the pandemic.”
According to the U.S. Elections Project, over 8.5 million people in Texas have voted and about 900,000 voters have returned their mail ballots as of Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Travis County Clerk’s Office said the county surpassed its November 2016 total voter turnout.
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said the county’s “ballot board” is staffed by about 40 people from opposing parties. DeBeauvoir said a voter is usually notified right away if there is a problem with their ballot, but signature verification is a careful process.
“We don't have political operatives trying to throw people’s ballots out … ,” DeBeauvoir said. “If two workers can't agree on the status of a particular ballot for a number of items that we have to double-check, then a third person, which is the presiding judge, breaks their tie.”
DeBeauvoir said other common problems they see on a ballot is when voters forget to sign their name, sign their name on the wrong part of the ballot or if their ballot arrives too late.
“I wish (the process) was better,” DeBeauvoir said. “Even if you're acting right away, there's not enough time to send a notice out to the voter telling them they have a problem.”
Mirza said if someone is notified before the election that their ballot is rejected, they should immediately call their county’s office and ask about the options to resolve this issue. They should also call Texas Election Protection’s hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.
