Las Vegas Columnist Ran A Test And County Officials Accepted Fake Signatures On 8 Different Ballots
Clark County election officials accepted my signature on eight ballot return envelopes during the general election. It’s more evidence that signature verification is a flawed security measure.
For months, election officials have told Nevadans not to worry about ballots piling up in apartment trash cans or sent to wrong addresses.
“Discarded mail ballots cannot just be picked up and voted by anyone,” a fact sheet from the secretary of state’s office says.
“All mail ballots must be signed on the ballot return envelope. This signature is used to authenticate the voter and confirm that it was actually the voter and not another person who returned the mail ballot.”
I wanted to test that claim by simulating what might happen if someone returned ballots that didn’t belong to him or her. Plenty of people had this opportunity. Billy Geurin, a 10-year Las Vegas resident, found five loose ballots in his apartment mailroom. A reader emailed me a picture of a pile of mail on the side of the road, which included loose ballots. There are numerous pictures of similar examples on social media.