Washington Ballot Signature Verification Policy Upheld by Court

Washington State election workers can verify signatures on questionable ballots and exclude those that can’t be authenticated, the state Supreme Court held Thursday in ruling against a veterans’ organization.

“Signature verification, on its face, does not violate our state constitution,” Justice Steven González wrote for the court. The process, “as part of a robust system of checks, provides both security and ease of voting,” the opinion said.

Suspicious-looking ballots in Washington are subject to an “increasingly expansive” system to try to cure them of discrepancies that could prevent them from being counted. Election workers verify that each ballot’s signature matches ...