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Signature Matching Will Continue In Ohio – At Least For This November’s Election

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The process of matching a voter’s signature on a ballot or ballot application against the signature provided on a voter’s initial registration will continue for this election. An injunction that was filed to remedy that process in this November’s election was denied by a federal court.

The ACLU of Ohio’s Freda Levenson says the larger case to get rid of signature matching is still alive but the injunction her group sought for this election isn’t. She says signatures from the same person can be different depending on the circumstances or age.

“What appears to an elections official to be a mismatch is, in most cases, 97% of the time, is actually a valid signature by the voter,” Levenson says.

A poll worker helps a voter to a machine at Franklin County's early voting center in Columbus on Sunday, March 15. In-person voting for the March 17 primary was cancelled the next day and the mail-in deadline was extended to April 28.
A poll worker helps a voter to a machine at Franklin County’s early voting center in Columbus on Sunday, March 15. In-person voting for the March 17 primary was cancelled the next day and the mail-in deadline was extended to April 28. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
The ACLU had asked for an order to require boards of elections to notify, by email or a phone call, voters flagged for signature mismatches. She says the ACLU will collect more evidence, including from this election, to make their case to strike signature matching altogether.