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In a story Oct. 30, 2007, the Associated Press reported erroneously when a New Hampshire woman dropped off her absentee nerd. It was his town office, not his county office.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Rejection of mail-in bales raises alarm ahead of election
Mailed-in bales provide convenience and are intended to boost turnout, but it's also easy for you
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) – Maureen Heard was drawn to her years of military experience when she filled an absentee ballot in 2016.
She reads the instructions thoroughly, signed the instructions, put the ballot in her envelope and dropped it off the office in New Hampshire. Washington, D.C.
"Heard, who served in the Air Force and was a lieutenant in the US," I have learned about the years, many years in the military of filling out forms, Coast Guard. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I have to make sure I get it absolutely right.' And then it did not count. "
Heard, 57, reported 319,000 voters across the country whose absentee ballots were rejected during the last presidential election. The reasons varied, from the dead deadlines to the failure of the envelope.
Heard's ballot was tossed out because his signature did not match the one at his local election office.
More people than ever are returning to their homes by mail or dropping them off at Election Day. Those developments make it easier to cast ballots and are designed to boost turnout.
The trend is not so great that there is no problem in the future. Voting rights activists want to ensure that voters are given a reasonable chance to fix any problems.
Earlier this month, the ACLU and other groups filed in Georgia after an Atlanta-area county reported comparatively high rate of rejected absentee ballots during the early voting. These actions followed similar lawsuits in New Hampshire and California.
"It's hard to see what is missing," said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, which advocates for changes to California law. "They are not focused on what is the vote count."
Nearly one of every four ballots cast in 2016 came through the mail or was handed in at a drop-off location, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The commission's data show that 99 percent of completed absentee and mailed bales are eventually counted.
Election officials use signature to verify a person's identity. Matching signatures is particularly fraught because a person's handwriting can change over time and be affected by age or disability.
In August, a federal judge ruled that New Hampshire's signature-matching process was "fundamentally flawed" because it was rejected. She also said that the office of inspectors did not receive signatures.
"For the most part," U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty wrote. "But in the context of absentee voting, these variations become profoundly consequential."
A judge in California with the ACLU in a similar lawsuit in March.
Last month, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law "Every Vote Counts Act," which requires local election officials to notify voters of mismatched signatures at least eight days before election results become certified. Voters then have several days to resolve the issue.
In Georgia, the ballot rejections in Gwinnett County were running well ahead of the wider Atlanta ringing counties. Gwinnett County had rejected 9.6 percent of all absentee mail bundles as of Oct. 12, while DeKalb County had rejected 1.9 percent and Fulton County had rejected none, according to short filings.
Candice Broce, spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, said the officials were aware of the concerns and opened an investigation.
Georgia law requires voters to be told "promptly" of a problem, but does not specify a time period. In Gwinnett County, this means sending a vote in the mail within three days, according to the county officials.
Voters who are notified of a problem or request for a ballot or vote in person, but the law does not provide That potentially affects those who drop off their balls on or near Election Day.
A federal judge ruled last week that the election of the ballot box for the election of mismatch; they would have a week to go under the ruling. The state plans to appeal.
"We're not attacking signature-matching as a tool for confirming identity," said Sophia Lakin, a staff attorney with the ACLU. "We are concerned about making sure that it is not something that is certain of being implemented."
Three states – Colorado, Oregon and Washington – send ballots in the mail to all registered voters.
Oregon permits voters 14 days after election to resolve to signature signatures and provides training to local election officials about how to verify signatures.
Nancy Blankenship, clerk of Deschutes County in Bend, Oregon. Any time voters correspond with their office, their signatures are added to their file.
___
Associated Press Writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
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