Young Sonoma County voter challenges mail-in ballot signature rule

Signatures can change over time, and leave mail-in voters with rejected ballots.|

Peter La Follette, a 25-year-old Sonoma County resident, was one of nearly 8.5 million Californians who voted by mail in the 2016 general election, accounting for nearly 60 percent of all votes cast.

It turned out, however, that his was one of nearly 26,000 mailed ballots rejected because county elections officials determined La Follette’s signature on the ballot envelope did not match the signature on file with his voter registration form.

But it wasn’t until July - eight months after the election - that La Follette was officially told his ballot had been rejected in compliance with state election law owing to mismatched signatures.

With backing from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, La Follette filed a lawsuit in November alleging the rejection of his ballot - the citizen’s fundamental democratic exercise - violated his rights to due process and equal protection under the law guaranteed in the state constitution.

His lawsuit is pending in San Francisco Superior Court.

And now state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, with backing from California elections chief Alex Padilla, has filed a bill aimed at keeping La Follette’s experience from recurring as voting by mail grows increasingly popular.

McGuire’s measure, the “Every Vote Counts Act,” would require county elections officials to notify voters whose mail-in ballot signatures don’t match the ones on file, and give them a means to correct the problem in time to have their votes counted.

“The lawsuit absolutely shined a bright light on this troubling issue California faces,” McGuire said.

The problem is easy to fix, and the bill should gain favor with Sacramento Democrats and Republicans because ballots with mismatched signatures are being rejected in “red and blue counties,” McGuire said.

ACLU attorney Michael Risher, one of La Follette’s lawyers, said that’s all the lawsuit is seeking: “timely notice and an opportunity to fix the problem.”

La Follette, who has voted in every presidential election since he turned 18, studied chemistry at UC Davis, according to his lawsuit.

“Voting is important to him because he appreciates that his vote can have a real effect on local elections and is a way to be involved in the political process,” the suit said.

La Follette did not return repeated telephone calls, and Risher said his client was not inclined to make public comments.

Signature mismatches accounted for rejection of 25,989 mailed ballots, or 0.69 percent of the 8.5 million mailed ballots cast statewide in the November 2016 election, the Secretary of State’s Office said.

La Follette’s lawsuit said studies had found that 35,000 to 45,000 ballots were rejected in the 2016 election due to signature mismatches.

In Sonoma County, 361 ballots were rejected out of 185,459 ballots returned, or 0.19 percent of the total.

“I think we were all blown away,” McGuire said, referring to his office’s discovery of the number of disqualified ballots.

“It’s a principle of our democracy: Every vote counts. Unfortunately, we have come to find out this old adage doesn’t always ring true.”

Secretary of State Alex Padilla said he supports McGuire’s bill, SB 759.

“There are currently no protections for voters whose signatures have changed over time,” he said in an email. The bill gives voters “an opportunity to verify their signature and ensure their ballot is counted.”

In the November 2016 election, nearly 58 percent of voters cast mailed ballots, Padilla noted.

The trend has grown pretty steadily since 1996, when about 20 percent of voters used what were once called “absentee” ballots.

In Sonoma County, more than 75 percent of voters obtained mail-in ballots in 2016, some turning them in early and many waiting until a few days before the election, delaying the final vote count.

Bill Rousseau, the county’s elections chief, was listed as a defendant in La Follette’s complaint, along with Padilla.

“I am following my statutory duties,” Rousseau said, noting that state law requires rejection of mailed ballots with mismatched signatures.

The law does not include a procedure for allowing voters to correct the problem, he said.

Rousseau acknowledged a contrast in the law - also cited in the lawsuit - that affords voters who submit unsigned mail-in ballots eight days after the election to address the problem.

Legislation, rather then legal action, is the appropriate way to change the rules regarding mismatched ballot signatures, he said.

Asked if he endorsed McGuire’s bill, Rousseau said: “I’ll go with the secretary of state and support it.”

McGuire said there are multiple reasons why a person’s signature may change over time, including a physical disability, the fact that a spouse or caregiver may sign or a person being unaware they have to sign a ballot the same way as it appears in county files.

The lawsuit suggested that young voters may not have developed permanent signatures and older voters’ signatures may simply change with age.

“In most instances, voters do not have access to their registration signature and will not know that their signatures have changed from those on file,” the suit said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.

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