As election employees continued to depend votes within the swing state of Nevada, some social media customers claimed 1000’s of mail-in ballots have been being discarded for signature issues.
A Nov. 5 Threads put up stated, “In Nevada, the GOP is succeeding in throwing out the votes of 1000’s of younger individuals.”
“If you happen to’re in Clark or Washoe county, reply your telephone tonight,” the put up continued. “It could be election officers, calling to remedy the defect in your mailed-in poll.”
(Screenshot from Threads)
One other Threads put up shared the identical message. These posts have been flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and Threads.)
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However Nevadans who voted by mail on this election shouldn’t panic. Ballots marked as needing signature verification weren’t being thrown out, and there’s nonetheless time to repair any poll issues, the secretary of state’s workplace stated.
Nevada regulation permits voters to “remedy” or resolve any issues with a signature on a mail poll return envelope, reminiscent of a lacking or mismatched signature. Nevadans have till 5 p.m. PST on Nov. 12 to remedy their ballots, the secretary of state’s web site stated.
We didn’t discover that this curing course of was a Republican-led effort. Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar is a Democrat.
In 2021, Democratic lawmakers in Nevada handed a regulation to ship each energetic voter within the state a mail-in poll for all future elections beginning in 2022. (Nevadans can nonetheless opt-out and vote in individual early or on Election Day.) This regulation additionally instructed election officers on easy methods to confirm poll signatures and established a curing course of for voters.
As of Nov. 8, the secretary of state’s web site stated 13,030 mail ballots, or 1.9% of all returned ballots in Nevada, wanted signature cures. Of those mail ballots, 11,039 belong to voters in Clark County, the state’s most populous county. Washoe County had the following highest quantity, with 1,206 mail ballots needing signature cures.
Nevada election officers are contacting the voters by mail, telephone and e-mail who wanted to remedy their ballots. Voters may also examine the secretary of state’s web site themselves to see whether or not their poll must be fastened. As soon as these ballots are cured, they are often counted.
Any ballots that aren’t cured won’t be counted.
Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo stated throughout a Nov. 6 press briefing that the mail poll signature remedy course of is “very fast.”
“As soon as we get that telephone name, the voter gives pertinent private info that we are able to use to confirm their identification, after which we are able to proceed. It doesn’t take lengthy,” Portillo stated.
Secretary of State Aguilar expressed considerations on the morning of Election Day about younger voters not having their mail poll signatures match their driver’s license signatures. He instructed The New York Instances that “younger individuals don’t have signatures lately.”
Later within the day on Nov. 5, Aguilar stated in a assertion that “the necessity for signature remedy goes past youth.” He stated that older voters might signal their names in a different way all through their lives and lately married voters might not have up to date their identify on their voter registration.
“Because the passage of Automated Voter Registration, extra Nevadans than ever signal their names on digital screens that will look totally different than their pen-to-paper signatures,” Aguilar stated.
Within the 2022 common election, 5,979 ballots needing signature verification weren’t counted as a result of they weren’t cured. Within the 2020 common election, 2,887 ballots weren’t counted due to signature issues, in response to knowledge from the secretary of state.
Our ruling
A Threads put up warned, “In Nevada, the GOP is succeeding in throwing out the votes of 1000’s of younger individuals.”
Some Nevadans’ votes won’t be counted if their ballots usually are not “cured” by the deadline, however this isn’t as a result of the state or the Republican Celebration are “throwing out” their votes. Nevada regulation requires mail-in ballots comprise verified signatures; ballots with lacking or mismatched signatures, subsequently, won’t be included within the closing depend.
The assertion accommodates a component of fact however ignores essential details that may give a special impression. We fee it Principally False.
