Judge: Ga. can’t reject mail ballots for signature mismatch

ATLANTA — A federal judge says Georgia election officials must stop rejecting absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications because of a mismatched signature without first giving voters a chance to fix the problem.

U. S. District Judge Leigh May on Wednesday ordered the secretary of state’s office to instruct county election officials to stop the practice for the November midterm elections. She outlined a pro- cedure to allow voters to resolve alleged signature discrepancies.

May’s order comes in response to two lawsuits filed earlier this month allege that election officials are improperly rejecting absentee ballots. The lawsuits said the rejections violated voters’ constitutional rights.

May gave the parties until noon Thursday to say whether the language in her order is “confusing or will be unworkable.”