June 15, 2022 – The NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) has opened a public comment period in response to a Request for Declaratory Ruling proposed by the NC Republican Party. The proposed Declaratory Ruling would allow individual members of county boards of elections to verify signatures on absentee ballots. The public comment period closes on July 5, 2022.
The proposal would authorize county boards of elections to scrutinize voter signatures on absentee ballot request forms and absentee ballot return envelopes, to determine whether to count those ballots in North Carolina elections. This could overrule the authority of the NCSBE to require uniform ballot review methods across all counties so that all voters, regardless of residency, have an equal right to have their vote count. In short, disparate voting standards could be implemented for voters across the state, as individual county board members could be allowed to determine whether a voter’s signature on an absentee ballot container envelope or request form matched their signature on file. A hearing is scheduled for July and then this will make its way through the courts – with the goal of this being implemented in time for the November midterms.
Please voice your personal concerns about the very real prospect that your ballot could be thrown out under a signature-matching protocol. If you changed your name since you registered to vote, if you have developed a medical condition that affects your signature, or if you first registered to vote in our state many years ago, your current signature may look different than your signature on file.
