Michigan elections FAQ: How do clerks verify absentee ballot signatures?

• Michigan election clerks review and compare the signature on each absentee ballot to a signature on-file
• Clerks must not assume initial signature validity, but they can consider reasons for variation like age 
• A judge in June struck down parts of the signature match guidance manual issued by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson 

As election season draws near and political debates heat up, Bridge Michigan is inviting readers to ask questions about our purple state as part of our Elections FAQ series, which includes a weekly live video show and written responses. 

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Rick from Ann Arbor asks: Signatures change over the years. How are they verified (on absentee ballots)? What processes are in place to prevent fraud?

Questions about signature verification have been circulating around clerk offices in Michigan, and a recent court ruling has changed the guidance they receive from the Secretary of State.

Local clerks review and compare the signature on each absentee ballot to the signature on the return envelope and to the voter’s signature on record to confirm its validity, according to Michigan Secretary of State spokesperson Cheri Hardmon.

Related:

• Michigan judge strikes down Benson voter signature match guidance — again
• Michigan Aug. 6 primary: What to know about absentee ballots, early voting

The Michigan Bureau of Elections trains clerks in signature verification. If a local clerk determines that a signature is not valid, the ballot is rejected and the clerk must promptly notify the voter.

Under a state law amended last year by the Legislature, a signature is "invalid only if it differs in significant and obvious respects from the elector's signature on file.”

A voter’s on-file signature is either from their driver’s license or voter registration, Hardmon wrote in an email. These signatures don’t require updating unless an individual changes their legal name.

If signatures aren’t an exact match, clerks have broad discretion to consider the voter has aged, the surface they signed on, name abbreviations and “any other plausible reason given by the voter that satisfies the clerk when following up on a questionable signature.”

Voters also have a chance to “cure” a rejected signature by filling out a separate form, which allows them to cite a medical condition, advancing age or “the number of years that have elapsed” since they last provided a signature for a driver’s license or voter registration.

The state has identified “commonsense reasons” to allow signature variations, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates wrote in a June opinion. The law “modestly offers real-world explanations consistent with the generous approach to signature verification that our legislature has prescribed,” he wrote. 

But in the same opinion, Yates wrote that a 2023 directive from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office for clerks to initially presume the validity of absentee ballot signatures was "a foul under Michigan law.” 

He ordered the state to remove the "initial presumption of validity" from a guidance manual provided to local clerks. 

Bridge Michigan is answering reader questions through our elections FAQ series. Ask your own question here. And register for our next live show here. The free, online event is scheduled for Monday, July 29 at 11:30 a.m.