Signature requirements Archives | American Democracy Minute

Washington State 2022 Audit of Rejected Mail Ballots Offers Valuable Insights for States Using Signature Verification

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025

A Washington State audit of rejected 2020 mail-in ballots offers insight on whose ballots are more likely to be rejected, and recommends actions to reduce that number - over 37,000 in 2024.

Washington Supreme Court Rules Signature Matching Can Be Used to Disqualify Ballots But Acknowledges It Impacts Too Many Voters

March 19, 2025March 19, 2025

Washington State implemented their universal vote-by-mail system in 2013, and built in signature-matching for identity verification. A March ruling by the state supreme court upholds that rule as constitutional because voters can cure discrepancies.

Pennsylvania Won’t Count Undated Mail Ballots After All; Alaska Natives Organizing to Retain Ranked Choice Voting

September 16, 2024September 16, 2024

Two updates on stories we’ve covered recently in Pennsylvania, where its high court invalidated ballots with missing or inaccurate dates, and Alaska, where the Alaska Native population is organizing against a repeal of open primaries and ranked choice voting.

In Wins for Pennsylvania Voters, Court Rules ‘Naked Ballots’ Can Be Fixed, and Ballots with Date Issues Can Be Counted

September 8, 2024September 9, 2024

In wins for voters, two Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rulings confirmed that so-called ‘naked ballots’ may be cured with a provisional ballot, and that undated or misdated mail ballots must be counted.

2024 Democracy Rollercoaster in Wisconsin, with Redistricting Challenges, Voting Rights Lawsuits, and a Close Election in Key Battleground State

January 8, 2024January 8, 2024

With narrow margins between Republican and Democratic voters in Wisconsin, both parties are fighting for every inch of ground before the state’s 2024 election, upon which both the Presidency and control of the U.S. House may hinge.