A federal judge has ruled that Indiana law governing the process of approving or rejecting absentee ballots based on signature matching is unconstitutional because it doesn’t require voters be notified and doesn’t offer a means to contest such a decision.
In Indiana, county election boards compare the signature on an absentee ballot application with the signature on a provided affidavit printed on the outside of a return envelope.
Boards are instructed by law to take into account potential differences between signatures due to age or disability, however members are not trained in handwriting or signature analysis, according to court records.
If a board determines the signatures don’t match, the ballot is rejected. Boards are not required to notify the voter of the rejected ballot and there is no procedure for contesting the decision.