Signature problems spark high ballot challenges in largely Latino-populated and student-populated counties in Eastern Washington

More than 3% of votes in Adams County have been set aside uncounted, mostly as a result of voters forgetting to sign their ballots or, more likely, using a signature different than what they used when they registered to vote.

The amount of set-aside ballots in Adams has fallen from more than 4% of ballots in the first days of counting, as some voters whose ballots were challenged in the most recent election have verified their identity. But the rate of ballot challenges in Adams still is three times higher than the state average.

Elections officials stress that signature challenges are a sign that county officials are taking their duty seriously to verify voters are who they say they are. But it highlights potential discrepancies in some communities and demographics.

State officials say immigrant communities and youth of all backgrounds tend to have more ballots challenged as a result of signature problems.

Adams County Auditor Heidi Hunt said few ballots were challenged because of missing signatures, while the majority of the ballots were challenged because signatures didn’t match.

“We’ve had two people in our office this morning who’ve had concerns like, ‘What do you mean, my signature doesn’t match? It hasn’t changed in years,’ ” Hunt said last week.

Whitman County had the second -most challenged ballots as of Friday, at 2.3%. Adams and Whitman were the only two counties with challenged rates over 2%.

Overall, 1.1% of ballots statewide were listed as challenged in Washington state as of Friday. Spokane County’s challenged rate was only 0.7%.

Travis Rideout, political science professor at Washington State University, said there are a number of reasons that a ballot could be challenged when it comes to signatures not matching, especially in college towns and largely Hispanic- and Latino-populated counties.

“They might use a shortened name or a nickname or English is not the first language,” Rideout said, referring to Adam County’s Hispanic community. “It may be more difficult to read the instructions on the ballot, and therefore might be slightly more prone to make an error – there are a lot of little factors that can add up.”

Mike McLaughlin, Spokane County elections manager, said he couldn’t speak for Adams County, but in terms of Spokane County, a signature not matching could also relate to cultural differences.

“Different cultures have different ways of what names they use as a surname versus their first name, or versus their middle name. So that’s all of a mix if they switch during that,” McLaughlin said.

Hunt and Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton emphasized, though, that they aren’t sure what demographics have the most challenged ballots because they don’t keep track of that information.

“If you pulled the information later about the voters, whose signatures were challenged from us, all you would get is basically age and gender and address,” Dalton said. “When we’re looking at those signatures, we’re not even seeing the name. We’re looking at the art of the signature – demographics don’t come into play.”

Hunt also said that although Adams County has a large percentage of challenged ballots, it is ultimately a statewide issue.

In 2020, the State Auditor’s Office released a report on ballot rejections statewide from the general election. The report showed that white voters had the lowest ballot rejection rate among racial and ethnic groups at less than 1%, while Black voters had the highest rejection rate at about 2.5%.

Franklin, Okanogan, Adams and Kittitas counties had the highest percentage of rejections.

Still, the auditor’s report did not find many patterns to explain the disparities, and it found there was no evidence of bias by election workers who reject ballots.

Chad Dunn, legal director of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, a legal advocacy branch of the university’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute, led a lawsuit in 2022 against Yakima, Benton and Chelan counties in Washington alleging discrimination against Latino voters.

This came after a 2021 InvestigateWest report showing those voters had ballot rejection rates higher than the average. The plaintiffs, including the Latino Community Fund of Washington and three citizens, called for the counties to implement better practices to reduce bias.

The auditor’s report also shows that ballots from young voters were most likely to be rejected, with the ballot rejection rate for voters between the ages of 18 and 21 being nearly 2.7%.

Whitman County Auditor Sandy Jamison speculates it could be part of the reason they have a higher percentage of challenged ballots in Whitman County, with many not matching signatures on file.

“We’re in a college town, and so certainly a portion of our challenged ballots are from students, usually first-time voters, who, for whatever reason, they say they registered at the (Washington State Department of Licensing) and their signature didn’t come through or they register with a cursive signature, but then they sign their ballot printing,” Jamison said.

Rideout similarly said with the large population of college students in Whitman County, it’s likely first-time voters send in their ballots without fully understanding the procedures.

Even if a ballot is challenged, it doesn’t mean it’s rejected.

“It just means that they need to further verify that the voter is who they say they are,” she said.

Hunt also said they aren’t “signature experts,” and they are going through the processes they’ve been trained to do, by following up with voters and asking them for more information.

Challenged ballots can be returned until 5 p.m. Nov. 25. Voters can return the completed form in the envelope provided, or it can be dropped off in person before the deadline.