‘Every Vote Counts’ Bill Approved in Assembly Elections Committee

This is a press release from Senator Mike McGuire:

By Tom Arthur from Orange, CA, United States – vote for better tape, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Sacramento, CA – A strong democracy depends on a voter’s belief that their vote counts.

However, in California, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, over 25,000 residents would be shocked to know that their ballots had been thrown away and not counted in the November 2016 General Election cycle.

These 25,000 mail ballots were thrown out because of a mismatching signature — the voter’s signature on their ballot did not match what was in their file.

While mismatching signatures can occur for a number of reasons, there is no law that mandates local election officials notify voters that their ballot will be tossed, or provide them with an opportunity to correct the mistake.

According to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last year, California ballots went uncounted because elections officials determined the voter’s signature on the Vote By Mail ballot didn’t match the voter’s signature on file. To make matters worse, residents whose votes were not tallied did not get notified and had no way of correcting their action, let alone casting their ballot in an election.

“It’s a principle of our democracy — every vote counts,” Senator Mike McGuire said. “Unfortunately, we have come to find out this old adage doesn’t always ring true. Tens of thousands of votes are thrown out without any notification to the individual voter here in California because of a discrepancy with their signature. That’s why, working with County Registrars, the Secretary of State’s office and the ACLU, we brought forward SB 759. This important legislation will establish a streamlined process for election officials across the state to notify voters when their signatures don’t match up and allow them the opportunity to cast their vote.”

There are a number of reasons why a signature may not match. For example:

·         A person may have a disability

·         The voter’s ability may change or make it difficult to match the signature because of a shaky hand

·         A different member of the household – such as a spouse or a caretaker – may sign

·         A voter’s signatures can change or evolve over time

·         Or the person, such as someone whose second language is English, may be unaware that they have to sign their ballot the same way as it is on file, and sign in the characters of a non-English alphabet.

SB 759 establishes the process for election officials to notify voters when their Vote By Mail signature mismatches the one on file. Specifically, this bill requires elections officials to notify voters of a mismatching signature at least 8 days prior to the certification of an election, and give the voters an opportunity to verify their signature.

SB 759 is supported by California’s Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and passed with a 5-2 vote today in the Assembly Elections Committee.

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9 Comments
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DJ
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DJ
5 years ago

Or maybe they are dead and they are one of the many that have been falsified.

Jaekelopterus
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Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  DJ

Do you have any evidence that is happening? In numbers anywhere near 25,000? Throwing out ballots without making an effort to contact the voter… Sounds like voter suppression to me.

Anon Forrest
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Anon Forrest
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

It happened to 90% of the provisional ballots cast for Bernie Sanders in CA’s last “selection” and California wasn’t the only Democratic Fiefdom involved.

john
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john
5 years ago

Sounds like a good bill.

dunewalker
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dunewalker
5 years ago

Have the precinct workers been trained in the science of handwriting/forgery? Who makes the judgment that two signatures are not by the same person?

Rebel Yell
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Rebel Yell
5 years ago

Typical liberal nonsense. They care about the last part, that as many foreigners as possible vote Democratic. They could care less about anything else.

McGuire is a snake. Sanctuary state promoter. He wants all the non-English speaking voters he can get.

Jaekelopterus
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Jaekelopterus
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebel Yell

Any evidence?

Anon Forrest
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Anon Forrest
5 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

I’ll second that.

Votebymailistheleastsecurewaytovote
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Votebymailistheleastsecurewaytovote
5 years ago

dunewalker is asking the right questions. The facts are that the “signature verification” process has no science behind it and is often manually performed by temporary workers with absolutely no rigor. Even highly skilled FBI agents trained in this area will admit that validating signatures is a difficult task. The whole process is a joke and notifying affected voters doesn’t solve the root problem.