#ballot curing

Nearly 14,000 Nevada voters must verify their identity with election officials to cure the signature on their mail-in ballots or their votes won’t count in what was expected to be a close presidential race, according to the secretary of state.

The deadline for voters to cure their ballots is 5 p.m. Nov. 12, officials said. [. . .]

Ballots need to be cured if the signature on file with the elections department doesn’t match, or if the voter failed to sign their mail ballot.

When there is a signature issue, the Clark County Election Department notifies voters by telephone, email, and U.S. mail. The phone call from Clark County will come from 702-455-8683, officials said.

It is also extremely unlikely to make any difference in national elections! but it can matter a lot in local elections, where races hang on much smaller numbers.

Here's an NPR article from 2022!

(Screenshot from Spoutible.com)

So, there are nearly 1400 ballots already cast in Nevada that need to have issues with the signature corrected (curing).

Yunior Rivas at Democracy Docket:

President Donald Trump and his GOP allies are continuing to use California’s unfinished primary vote count to push baseless election fraud claims after Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, a Republican, slipped to third place.  “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections!”

That came after Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman (D), overtook Pratt for second place in the city’s jungle primary, putting Raman in position to advance to the November general election along with Mayor Karen Bass (D), the incumbent. Pratt’s early second-place standing made him a cause célèbre for election deniers falsely accusing California officials of trying to keep a Republican out of the runoff. In fact, California’s evolving count is the predictable result of the state’s pro-voting policies, which require election officials to verify and count millions of valid ballots before certifying final results — as well as its sheer size.

California’s primary results are not final, and vote totals often change after election night as counties complete the canvass — the formal process of verifying ballots, auditing results and certifying the final count. In Los Angeles, the shift was especially predictable. Ballots counted later in California are often mail-in ballots, and in recent elections, Democrats have been more likely than Republicans to vote by mail. California takes longer than many states to count votes for a mix of logistical and legal reasons, from the sheer size of its electorate to the state’s rules for mail-in ballots, signature verification and voter protections that give people time to fix certain ballot issues.

Those rules can make close races look unsettled for days or weeks after election night — but they also help ensure eligible voters are not disenfranchised. And, ironically, they also help catch any illegitimate ballots that shouldn’t be counted — exactly what Trump and his allies attack the state for not doing enough on.

California is huge

The simplest reason California takes longer than many other states to count votes is also the most obvious: It is enormous. California has the largest electorate in the country, with more than 23 million registered voters heading into the June primary — the highest number in state history. That means county election officials are not just tallying votes in a handful of close races. They are processing millions of ballots across 58 counties, including sprawling jurisdictions like Los Angeles County, where a single local race can involve many more voters than entire states. Every ballot has to move through a system that includes intake, sorting, signature review, tabulation, auditing and reporting. And because California conducts elections county by county, each jurisdiction updates results on its own schedule based on staffing, equipment, ballot volume and local procedures.

[...]

California is a universal vote-by-mail state

California is one of eight states that sends mail-in ballots to all registered voters, and most Californians use them. In the state’s recent elections, nearly 90% of voters cast their ballots by mail. That makes California’s count different from states where most ballots are cast in person and can be checked directly at polling places. A mail-in ballot has to go through several security steps before it can be legally counted. Election officials must receive it, sort it, check the voter’s signature, separate the ballot from its envelope and prepare it for tabulation. That process takes time, especially because many Californians return their mail-in ballots on or just before Election Day. That is why election night is not the end of the process in California. It is the beginning of a more detailed canvass, where county officials work through the ballots voters legally cast by mail and make sure they are eligible to be counted. Trump has spent years attacking mail-in voting with unsupported claims of widespread fraud, and has tried to turn that hostility into policy.

[...]

California counts ballots mailed on time even if they arrive after Election Day

California does not count any ballots cast after Election Day. But it does count mail-in ballots that were cast on time and arrive later. Under state law, mail-in ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county election officials no later than seven days after the election. For this year’s primary, that means ballots postmarked by the June 2 primaries can still be counted if they arrive by June 9. That rule is meant to protect voters from being disenfranchised because of postal delays after they already met the deadline to vote. It also means California’s vote totals can continue changing for days after election night, especially in close races where timely mailed ballots make up a meaningful share of the remaining count.

[...]

California lets voters fix mistakes so their votes can count

California’s process also continues after election night because the state gives voters time to fix certain ballot problems and ensure their vote can count. For example, if a mail-in ballot is missing a signature or the signature does not match the voter’s registration record, election officials contact the voter and give them a chance to correct it. This process is known as ballot curing, and it is designed to make sure voters are not disenfranchised because of technicalities like a missing signature or a simple mistake on their envelope.

see links below for ballot curing opportunities to help make sure thousands of currently uncounted votes can make their voices heard for key races for Democrats! whether it's for local races or for the remaining house of representatives seats that are currently too close to call, your efforts are instrumental!

NORTH CAROLINA (ballots or provisionals), through November 14, sign up here: 

cure canvassing

PENNSYLVANIA, through November 12th, sign up here:

CALIFORNIA, through December 1, sign up here:

MULTISTATE, ongoing DNC phone banks, sign up here:

 MULTISTATE BILINGUAL, ongoing DCCC phone banks, sign up here: