PORTLAND, Ore. — Several states across the US are in hot water, after absentee or early voting ballots have been thrown out due to signature errors.
We wanted to Verify: Can that happen in Oregon?
Here in Oregon, every ballot envelope needs to be signed before its mailed or dropped off, and that signature needs to match the signature you created on your voters' registration card.
Every ballot signature is carefully inspected and compared with the signature on file by a person - not a machine. If it matches, it's put into a pile to later be opened and counted.
If the signatures don't match, the person doing the initial inspection flags a supervisor. Election officials are even trained by forensic handwriting experts.
"We have fail-safes here in Oregon. If your signature doesn’t match, you’re gonna be contacted by your county election official and you’ll have at least 14 days to come in and correct that," Elections Director Steve Trout said.
Other states aren't as fortunate.
After a lawsuit was filed in New Hampshire, a federal judge ruled the state's signature-matching system was "fundamentally flawed."
Last month, a US district court judge in Georgia ordered the secretary of state not to reject absentee ballots just because of mismatched signatures.
And in Florida, thousands of absentee ballots have been rejected due to signature issues.
Trout said it's an important reminder, especially for older individuals, to make sure the signature on file matches their current signature. He also recommends tracking your ballot to ensure it's being counted, or to find out if there are any problems with it.