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Petitioners tell Washington Supreme Court signature-matching rejects thousands of ballots; state defends process
Summary
At oral argument in Vedvoise Foundation v. Hobbs, petitioners urged the Washington Supreme Court to strike down the state's signature-matching procedure as an unconstitutional burden that has rejected tens of thousands of mail ballots and disproportionately affected younger and minority voters; the state defended the statute as a necessary, low-burden check with improved cure procedures. The court submitted the case for decision.
Kevin Hamilton, counsel for the petitioners, told the Washington Supreme Court on Oct. 31 that the state's practice of comparing mail-ballot signatures to exemplars "infringes and burdens the right to vote" and has "operated to deprive more than 170,000 fully qualified Washington voters of the right to vote just since 2016." He told the justices that many of those ballots are cast by voters who complied with all statutory requirements but nonetheless had their votes rejected because of penmanship, and that the burden falls disproportionately on younger and minority voters.
Deputy Solicitor General Carl Smith, arguing for Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, countered that "In Washington, it is easier for a voter to cast a ballot than it has ever been," and urged the court to apply…
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