ATLANTA — Georgia election officials must stop rejecting absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications because of a mismatched signature without first giving voters a chance to fix the problem, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Leigh May ordered the secretary of state’s office to instruct county election officials to stop the practice for the November midterm elections. She outlined a procedure to allow voters to resolve alleged signature discrepancies.
Two lawsuits filed earlier this month allege that election officials are improperly rejecting absentee ballots and applications in violation of their constitutional rights.
The lawyers behind both lawsuits had filed emergency requests asking May to make certain immediate changes while the litigation is pending.
May’s order comes in the final weeks of Georgia’s tight, nationally watched governor’s race between Democrat Stacey Abrams, who’s trying to become the country’s first black woman governor, and Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp. The two have fought for years over voting rights and ballot security measures, Abrams as a longtime legislative leader and Kemp as Georgia’s chief elections official.
Abrams has accused Kemp of using his office to make it harder for minority voters to cast ballots. He has denied it vehemently.
Georgia law allows voters to cast an absentee ballot before an election regardless of whether they are able to vote in person on Election Day.
If the voter’s signature on the absentee ballot envelope or absentee ballot application doesn’t match the signature on the voter registration card, state law says it should be rejected.
