Committee backs requiring two-person bipartisan review for initial mail-ballot signature checks

The committee voted 10-1 to forward a bill that requires a bipartisan team of election judges to perform the initial signature verification for mail ballots, closing what sponsors described as a single-person"single point of failure" in the acceptance process.

What the bill changes: Under current practice, the first signature check can be performed by a single election judge (or in some processes a single reviewer deciding whether a machine-rejected signature should be accepted). HB 10-80 requires that initial review to be conducted by a bipartisan team of two election judges; the bill also directs the Secretary of State to adopt rules detailing the team process.

Sponsors' rationale: Representative Richardson and Representative Paschal told the committee that an erroneous acceptance by one person is effectively irreversible once a mail ballot is separated from its envelope and put into the count. "If a verification system is being used and the system kicks it out, initially a single person just looks and determines whether they feel the machine was right or wrong," Rep. Richardson said. "A false acceptance by a single person is different."

Supporters: County clerks, election-judge volunteers and county officials testified in support, saying bipartisan teams are already used for many election tasks and that adding an extra reviewer at this point increases public confidence with little operational cost. Elbert County Clerk Rhonda Braun and other election judges said the change aligns signature review with other bipartisan processes already in place.

Opposition: A minority of witnesses and one committee member questioned whether the change was necessary given professional election judges and machines in current use; one clerk quoted testimony attributed to a clerks' association that two judges could be less accurate if they distracted each other, a point other clerks rejected as insulting to election workers.

Committee action: After clarifying language and adopting an amendment to ensure bipartisan teams at both initial and secondary tiers, the committee voted 10-1 to send HB 10-80 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.