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true

Counties Must Contact Absentee Voters Before Rejecting Ballot For Signature Issue

By Brandon Smith

Posted August 21, 2020

The federal courthouse in Indianapolis

(Lauren Chapman/IPB News)

Indiana counties can no longer reject a voter’s absentee, mail-in ballot because an official says their signature doesn’t match – without giving the voter a chance to fix it.

That’s what a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Indiana law requires county election boards to check a voter’s signature on their mail-in ballot against their ballot application. If those boards – typically made up of the county clerk and a member of each major political party – don’t unanimously agree that the signatures match, the ballot is thrown out.

And counties aren’t required to ever tell the voter their ballot was rejected.

Join the conversation and sign up for the Indiana 2020 Two-Way. Text "elections" to 73224. Your comments and questions in response to our weekly text help us find the answers you need on COVID-19 and the 2020 election.

A group of voters whose ballots were unfairly rejected in 2018 filed a lawsuit. They argue the law violates their constitutional rights. And a federal judge agrees.

Judge Sarah Evans Barker writes that from now on – including the 2020 general election – counties must contact absentee voters when they think their signatures don’t match and give them a chance to prove they are properly voting.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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