NC elections board rejects Republican signature check motion

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina State Board of Elections denied Thursday a Republican Party request that the board authorize county elections officials to scrutinize signatures on absentee voting documents, citing concerns that the proposal would create unequal standards across counties.

“We’ve got an extraordinarily secure absentee ballot process now, and to do this would introduce a level of uncertainty where some voters might be treated different than other voters depending on how they vote,” Chair Damon Circosta said at Thursday’s board meeting.

Challenging the board’s prior guidance discouraging signature matching, the proposal would permit county boards of elections to compare signatures on absentee ballot request forms and return envelopes with the signatures included in voter registration records. The board rejected the request in a 3-2 party-line vote, with three Democrats voting against signature verification and two Republicans voting in favor.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, calling the board's decision “misguided,” said party leaders will consider filing an appeal with the Wake County Superior Court.

“We want to make sure that it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Whatley said in an interview. “(Signature verification) is a very common sense tool, and I think it’s inexplicable that the board has instructed not only that the boards don’t have to use it, but they can’t use it.”

The Republican Party's proposal cited a 2020 memo from the board’s Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, which provided that county boards of elections should accept the signature on an absentee ballot request form if it “appears to be made by the voter or their near relative or legal guardian.” Bell advised that signatures “should not be compared...