Plaintiffs
Robin is a first time voter from Washington County. He received a letter from the county election board informing him that his ballot had been rejected due to alleged signature mismatch. He has no idea why they came to this conclusion. He mailed a voter registration card in order to re-register. After contacting the election board to see if his ballot would now be counted and informed it would not, he personally went to the election board to provide another signature. His ballot is still being rejected.
George is from Multnomah County. George’s signature was altered as a result of a stroke he suffered April 8, 2014. He received a letter from the county Election Board indicating his ballot was being rejected but did not respond because he was undergoing rehabilitation at the time. Also, it is his hope that the use of his right arm will be sufficiently restored that he will regain use of his handwriting and regular signature. He didn’t want to have to re-register to vote twice.
Christine is from Multnomah County. Christine is a quadriplegic who lost use of her arms and legs as the result of a motorcycle accident 30 years ago. She signed with a pen/pencil in her mouth for years, but recently began using a stamp as her legal signature. She has used the stamp to vote in previous elections and to her knowledge did not have a problem. She received a letter from the county Election Board indicating her signature did not match but did not respond because she assumed the letter was sent by mistake given her longstanding disability which she thought was well documented in the county elections office.
Cameron is from Multnomah County. Cam moved to Portland from Mississippi a year ago and this is the first Oregon election in which he has voted. His ballot was delivered to the wrong apartment number at his building and as a result he says he worked hard to get his vote counted. He doesn’t know why his ballot wasn’t accepted and did not receive notice from the county Election Board informing him his ballot had been rejected for alleged signature mismatch (presumably it was delivered to the wrong apartment, too).
Cam is from Washington County. She is a Vietnamese immigrant who doesn’t speak English well and has poor handwriting. Her son often explains questions to her in Vietnamese. She owns her own business (beauty salon) and is proud to be an American citizen and be able to vote. She says she did not receive any notice from the county Election Board that her ballot was rejected due to an alleged signature mismatch and doesn’t know why her signature wasn’t accepted.
Claire is from Multnomah County. Claire sometimes signs her name writing her full name out and sometimes shortens it to her initials and last name. She wasn’t sure which way she signed her voter registration. She received a letter from the county Election Board indicating her ballot had been rejected but was unable to respond because she was traveling out-of-state for work.
Maggie is from Columbia County. Maggie registered to vote in 2012 and voted in that election without a problem, as far as she knows. She said the signature on her driver’s license is printed, but she signed her ballot envelop in longhand. She received a letter from the county Election Board that her ballot was being rejected. She personally went to the Election Board and re-registered but her ballot is still being rejected.
