Georgia's "Signature Mismatch" Law Could Disqualify Thousands Of Voters – And The ACLU Is Suing

Early voting in Georgia started on Monday, and according to the ACLU, bales are already being thrown out to strict voting laws. On Wednesday, the ACLU of Georgia has signed a "signature mismatch" law, naming Georgia's state secretary Brian Kemp, as well as all county registrars defending. Bustle has reached to Kemp's campaign for how.

Currently, Georgia law requires that election officials void any absentee bales or absentee ballot applications if they think the signatures in the vote's paperwork do not match. According to the ACLU, the election officials are not given any formal training on how to assess their qualifications for consistency, or even standardized instructions on what constitutes a mismatch.

"Georgia does not notify voters before they are rejected," said the organization in a statement. "Nor does it provide an opportunity to challenge the determination."

This is not the first lawsuit the ACLU has filed against Kemp, a Republican who is also currently running for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams. Last week the organization sued him over Georgia's "exact match" law, which requires all personal information included to vote registration forms to match the state's database. Missed punctuation mark or missing middle name can get a vote on a "pending" registration list, according to Reuters. The ACLU says there are currently more than 50,000 names in the list.

Slate reported that almost 500 absentee ballots in Gwinnett County, Georgia, have been disproportionately affected. According to the ACLU, signatures vary for a number of reasons, including disability, age, and language capability. According to them, elderly people and people who speak English as a second language are more likely to provide different signatures. Additionally, disabled people are more likely to vote, making them much more likely to a voided ballot.

Other states like New Hamsphire and Florida have had some of the most important signatures in the world. A forensic examine testified when the ACLU sued New Hampshire over their signature mismatch law, saying an effective handwriting comparison would require 10 sample signatures "at minimum". The Miami Herald They also reported that they were more likely to have their mail-in bales than their white counterparts.

Right now, the ACLU of Georgia is demanding a temporary restraining order on the law, to "stop a current constitutional train wreck that threatens to disenfranchise potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of voters." Abrams has the restrictions on voting by Kemp to suppress voters before the general election next month. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, she said, "When you know what you're doing is going to have a disproportionate effect on people of color and on women, and you do it anyway, that erodes the public trust in the system, and that's problematic. "