Pa. Supreme Court rules counties cannot reject mail ballots because of mismatched signatures

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Spoke with a woman last week upset that her signature different post stroke-- told her  to print "had stroke" on return envelope next to signature --now voters don't have to worry.

 

Philadelphia Inquirer  10/23/2020

Counties cannot reject mail ballots because of mismatched signatures, Pa. Supreme Court rules
 

Quote

Counties cannot reject mail-in and absentee ballots if a voter’s signature on the outer envelope does not match what’s on file, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Friday, making drawn-out challenges on Election Day less likely.

In a 7-0 decision, the high court said there are no provisions in the state’s election code that specifically require counties to match voters' signatures. And, the court noted, in writing the law, the legislature could have explicitly mandated signature matching but did not.

“We decline to read a signature comparison requirement into the plain and unambiguous language of the election code,” the justices wrote in their decision....

 

 

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

11 hours ago, NRSKarenRN said:

Spoke with a woman last week upset that her signature different post stroke-- told her  to print "had stroke" on return envelope next to signature --now voters don't have to worry.

 

Philadelphia Inquirer  10/23/2020

Counties cannot reject mail ballots because of mismatched signatures, Pa. Supreme Court rules

I think it likely that MOST ballots will be filled out by the correct voter. I do wonder how the state can protect against fraud. 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, herring_RN said:

I think it likely that MOST ballots will be filled out by the correct voter. I do wonder how the state can protect against fraud.  

When one requests mail/absentee ballot, elections bureau sends a voter packet that is bar coded -that's what compared to return ballot.

PA Election Security lists what Secretary of State is doing to protect PA's voting system

 

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

In California every signature on a vote-by-mail ballot envelope is compared against the signature on the voter’s registration form. If it does not match the ballot, it is not counted. If it arrives before the day of the election you will be notified and can go with your ID and verify it was you. Otherwise the ballor is NOT counted.

https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/voting-law-compliance/voting-law-compliance.pdf

In 2004 I was a poll watcher. I saw a man enter the polling place wearing a "John Kerry - John Edwards" button. I had to tell him he could not wear it at the poll. He put it in his pocket and voted. 

[toomuchbaloney]

Wear blue to the polling place to make a subtle statement.