- Michigan judge rejects guidance from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s that clerks should initially presume absentee ballot signatures are valid
- But judge upheld separate rules that give clerks broad discretion to consider why a voter signature might not match the version on file
- An 2023 election law helped save Benson’s 2022 rule that detailed how clerks can compare signatures
LANSING — A directive by 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,” a state judge ruled Thursday.
The 10-page opinion from Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates struck down that guidance, a victory for Republicans who sued and have repeatedly contested various election protocols from Benson’s department.
But Yates, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, preserved other state rules that offer clerks broad discretion to accept signatures that don’t exactly match what’s on file.
Both sides of the suit cast the decision as a win.
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Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra accused Benson of attempting to “pick and choose which election laws to enforce and which to ignore.”
“The signatures of absentee ballot voters have to and should be verified — it’s common sense,” Hoekstra said in response to the ruling.
But Benson spokesperson Angela Benander said the court decision “reaffirmed that it was legal for the department to implement signature verification rules.”
Clerks “carefully review every ballot signature to ensure they agree sufficiently with the signature on file before accepting any ballot,” she said.
At issue is how local election officials should review signatures on absentee ballot applications and envelopes to ensure they were submitted by the actual registered voter.
Under a state law amended last year by the Democratic-led Legislature, a signature is “invalid only if it differs in significant and obvious respects from the elector’s signature on file.”
The Michigan Department of State’s subsequent December 2023 guidance told election clerks that “voter signatures are entitled to an initial presumption of validity.”
But Yates ruled that guidance was “incompatible with the Constitution and the laws of the state of Michigan.”
