AP Exclusive: Thousands of Ohio absentee applications denied

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press



Julie Carr Smyth, Associated Press Updated 3:06 pm CST, Monday, December 16, 2019

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Thousands of Ohio voters were held up or stymied in their efforts to get absentee ballots for last year’s general election because of missing or mismatched signatures on their ballot applications, an Associated Press review has found.

The signature requirement on such applications is a largely overlooked and spottily tracked step in Ohio’s voting process, which has shifted increasingly to mail-in ballots since early, no-fault absentee voting was instituted in 2005.

To supporters, the requirement is a useful form of protection against voter fraud and provides an extra layer of security necessary for absentee balloting.

. . .

Figures provided to the AP through public information requests to Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections show 21 counties rejected more than 6,500 absentee ballot applications because a signature was either missing or didn’t match what was on file. That requirement is not for the ballot itself, which faces a different battery of requirements, but merely for an application requesting one. Another five counties reported rejecting about 850 applications combined, for various reasons that the boards didn’t specify.


Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/AP-Exclusive-Thousands-of-Ohio-absentee-14908939.php

[doc03]

1. They purged something like 450000 voters off

the rolls this year.

[sakabatou]

2. Voter disenfranchisement

[Grins]

3. If they didn't sign...

If the form demands a signature and they didn’t sign, the state is right.

If they didn’t match? Bull!
Match? Against what?
Because somewhere they once signed “John A. Smith” then on the app signed “John A Smith” without the period after the “A”?

Republican voter fraud.

[xxqqqzme]

8. Ballots in CA

are verified by signature. We regularly remind persons to re-register to update their signature. Your signature can change over time.

Now if you are a rethuglican registering voters and you see a signature is missing on a Democrat registration are you going to point that out? No, probably not.

[FakeNoose]

10. Probably the "signature" that's printed on the Drivers License

Ohio no doubt does the same thing as PA and just about every other state, they ask drivers license applicants to "sign" a digital screen with a light-pen. The resulting digital signature almost never looks like your real signature written with a real pen on paper. But that's what the state archives for your ID.

One time I renewed my license, and the signature was so bad that I refused to accept it as my ID. I insisted on doing it over until I got a good replica of my true signature. I think the digital screen was faulty, or something. After about 5 tries I gave up, and the sig that's displayed on my DL is terrible. Therefore I can't use my DL as a photo ID, I show my passport whenever I need to show ID.

Since other people aren't as picky as I am, they have accepted the bad signature and now they can't match it. Hence the archived ID signatures are part of the problem. (Or the Repukes are using them as a convenient excuse.)

[mwb970]

4. Our Secretary of State in Ohio is a republican (of course).

However, he seems to be a pretty straight shooter, based on what I've read about him in the paper.

[Talitha]

5. Would it be better to use fingerprints instead of signatures?

[IronLionZion]

6. They would love to use party registration

Republican is OK, Democratic is rejected.

Otherwise, they use age and race as much as possible, and city vs rural.

[karynnj]

7. What is weird is you would expect that there would be an effort to help a legit voter have his/her

vote count.

In WA state, where most voting is by mail, I know the Democrats took the problem votes where the voter was a registered Democrat and had the chance to confirm that the mismatched signature was claimed to be done by the voter. I don't know the process, but my daughter who is active in her county's young Democrats was one of the people who tried to verify the votes. One was quite easy - it was her own vote where they said the signature was different!

[Scarsdale]

9. Every single state needs to be

aware of this problem. Settle differences NOW, ahead of time. Waiting until the last minute will be another disaster. Every voter needs to register ASAP, ensure they have the right in order. We know the only way the gop wins is by cheating.

[not_the_one]

11. sounds like a good dig into why they were denied

by a GOOD investigative journalist, is in order...