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Wednesday, Apr 7, 2021

Did Georgia repeal a signature-matching procedure for absentee ballots?

April Fisher, Gigafact Foundry
yes

Georgia’s recent election-reform legislation repealed a provision that allowed election officials to reject absentee ballots with signatures that don’t match those the state has on file.

The new law states that previous signature-matching requirements were deemed “subjective” by “Georgians on all sides of the political spectrum.” The changes require that voter identity should now be verified using a driver’s license ID number or social security number in place of signature matching.

Last year, the Georgia Democratic Party and Georgia’s secretary of state reached a legal settlement over several disputed voting rules. Part of the settlement reinforced the signature-matching procedure that the new law repeals. The new legislation does not repeal the entire 2020 settlement.

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