Clark County asking voters to update signatures on file

Clark County is undertaking an effort to update its voter signature verification database ahead of the November election.

All active registered voters — about 1.4 million people — will receive a form asking them to confirm or update their signature.

Filling out the form is optional, but those who choose to complete it are asked to return it to the county by Sept. 12.

Nevada law requires signature confirmation when voters cast a ballot, whether by mail or in person.

County election officials want to ensure they have the latest samples to cut down on the number of ballots flagged for mismatched signatures and the time it takes to resolve the issue.

“There’s folks that registered when they were really young at 18, and now they have a different signature at 26,” said Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo.

Portillo said her son ran into that very situation, but he was able to resolve the issue and have his vote counted.

“The system worked. It’s just we could have avoided that inconvenience” if a more recent signature had been on file, she said.

When processing votes, the initial signature match is an automated process. If the signature is flagged, a bipartisan team reviews the ballot and conducts a manual signature verification.

The review team examines the latest signature on record, and if it doesn’t appear to match, they review all the person’s signatures in the voter record.

“If it does not match, if these bipartisan groups still say that the signature does not match, then it will go into the curing process,” Portillo said.

In the 2022 general election, more than 14,000 ballots went through the process to try to rectify mismatched signatures.

Portillo said there were several ways for a voter to cure their signature, which may include providing additional identifying information.

While half the issues were resolved in the 2022 election, the rest of the ballots needing a cured signature ultimately didn’t count, Portillo said. Some voters failed to get in touch with elections officials after being informed about the issue with their ballot.

“We want to make sure we do a little bit of proactive work and in hopes that we get less curing in the system rather than us having to follow up with the voter and the voter not contacting us and possibly not counting on their ballot,” she said.

Portillo said she realized not all of the 1.4 million people who receive the form will return it, but she stressed the importance that they do. If the form is not updated, election officials will rely on the original signature on file.

“The signature means the difference between counting (a voter’s) ballot at the polls or questioning their signature at the polls,” she said. “We want to make sure they have a seamless process.”

[email protected] / 702-990-8923 / @haajrahgilani