Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar has expressed concerns that a high number of mail-in ballots have been rejected in the swing state.
Roughly 13,000 US presidential votes weren’t counted because their signatures did not match those recorded on the voters’ driving licenses.
The outcome in the state is yet to be announced and is likely to be delayed as ballots without verifiable signatures are not included in the vote count.
Those whose ballots have been rejected now have until November 12 to verify their ballot paper in order for it to be counted.
The issue with signatures has been blamed on Gen Z voters who have been accused of having little experience in signing their names.
Mr Aguilar said: “Gen Z voters who struggle with cursive could slow the vote count.
“It’s mostly the fact that young people don’t have signatures these days.”
More than 11,300 ballots in Clark County and 1,800 in Washoe County must be fixed and resubmitted.
The number of ballots declined in Nevada is far more than in previous election cycles.
As schools are stopping cursive handwriting, signatures of young people are less distinct.
The Secretary of State added that upon registering to vote, you use a digital pad to sign your name which can often lead to inaccuracy.
He said: “When you look at the data, and you start to realise how high it is, it makes you nervous because again, these races are so close, the margins are so slim, that I don’t want to look at the numbers tonight and know that we have to wait for ballots to be cured.”
He added: “We need to ensure that every voter’s voice is heard.”
A handful of states have dropped the skill of cursive handwriting from the curriculum, which could be impacting legitimacy of ballots.
There have been calls for the replacement of signatures with more unique identifiers such as facial identification or social security numbers.
It has been reported that state officials have been desperately trying to reach out to young voters to correct the issue.
Featured image courtesy of Unsplash
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Can’t write cursive? Don’t have a signature? Geez, get back to school!!