Federal Judge Strikes Down N.H.'s 'Signature Mismatch' Absentee Voting Law [View all]

A federal judge has struck down a New hampshire law that allows pollworkers to toss out absentee ballots if they don’t believe the signature adequately matches the one used on other voting paperwork.

In a ruling issued Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty said “the current process for rejecting voters due to a signature mismatch fails to guarantee basic fairness,” because it gives moderators “sole, unreviewable discretion” to discard absentee ballots.

"It cannot be emphasized enough that the consequence of a moderator’s decision — disenfranchisement — is irremediable," Judge McCafferty wrote.

McCafferty also raised concerns about a lack of standards, training and oversight offered to pollworkers who are tasked with deciding whether to throw out someone’s ballot. Her ruling noted that the Secretary of State’s office “does not regularly monitor rates of rejection due to signature mismatch to ensure moderators’ compliance with the statute” and “has never engaged in a review of statistical anomalies related to the requirement.”

Read more: http://www.nhpr.org/post/federal-judge-strikes-down-nhs-signature-mismatch-absentee-voting-law