Gem State Wire

A newly enacted Idaho law standardizing the verification of ballot signatures is only the start of a series of voter reforms planned for the state, the assistant House majority leader told the Gem State Wire.

“Next on the list will be the tightening up of the absentee ballot process, and I’m having staff looking into the new Georgia law to see what other changes we should make,” said Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa). 

The signature verification bill, House Bill 290, signed by GOP Gov. Brad Little in April, requires Idaho's secretary of state to “develop and provide to each county clerk instructions and standards for the verification, acceptance, and rejection of elector signatures for any process requiring signature verification.”

Under the law, ballot signatures can only be certified if they are an exact match of the signature on the specific citizen’s voter registration card. Crane, who also chairs the House State Affairs Committee, said that the prior signature verification process differed depending on the county.

The bill also requires the retention of the envelopes of absentee ballots for two years, and bans the use of e-signature on ballots.

“It must have been the right legislation to pass because it’s the one the Democrats were screaming the loudest about,” Crane said.

The Legislature returns to session the second week of January 2022 when Crane says they will begin work on the additional voter initiatives.

“We need to have our voters feel absolutely confident that their votes count,” he said.

That trust would be shattered under legislation, the so-called For the Peoples Act (House Resolution 1 and Senate Bill1), awaiting action in the U.S. Senate, according to an analysis of the initiative by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican.

“In order to reject a ballot based on an unverifiable or incorrect signature, both judges would have to agree that the signature on the ballot is questionable,” Cuccinelli writes. “Since the standard operating procedure in most localities is that two judges be present, H.R. 1 essentially states that the authorization of only one judge is needed to approve signatures, regardless of how they compare with the signatures on file.”

“The failure of election mechanics opens the door to a partisan veto built into the process,” he added. “H.R. 1 would devastate the effectiveness of signature verification, as regardless of any issues with signatures – no matter how clear or evident – either party could choose to verify any amount of dubious signatures.”