Vet Voice Foundation v. Hobbs:

This case concerns some of the most fundamental building blocks of our representative democracy: the right to vote, the legislature’s power and obligation to ensure that voters can freely exercise that right, and the integrity and security of elections.

In Washington, most voters cast their votes by mail, and each voter must swear under oath that they are eligible to cast that ballot. Before that ballot may be counted, election workers must verify that the signature on the voter’s sworn ballot declaration is the signature of the registered voter. If the voter’s signature cannot be verified, election workers may challenge that ballot. If the voter does not timely cure their ballot, their vote will not be counted.

All too many ballots are not counted because election workers cannot verify the voter’s signatures and the voter does not or cannot cure their ballot in time. The plaintiffs contend that because signature verification results in some lawfully cast ballots not being counted, it facially violates the due process, privileges and immunities, and freedom of elections clauses of our state constitution.

But signature verification is only a part of the election system established by our legislature. In recent years, our legislature has taken substantial steps to improve that system. Among other things, it has directed local election workers to take greater efforts to contact voters whose ballots are challenged and it has expanded the ways voters may cure their ballots and have their votes counted.

We conclude that at least when coupled with the increasingly expansive cure system, signature verification, on its face, does not violate our state constitution.