Off the News: Checking those ballot signatures

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2024 Hawaii & National Election Coverage

It’s undoubtedly a consequence of society’s digital means of communication that our own digits — our fingers — are becoming less practiced at signatures.

As a result, the way people sign their name is increasingly inconsistent, so that when Hawaii elections staffers check the signed ballots against its records, the signatures don’t match up. A couple of thousand primary-election votes were uncounted.

On balance, the all-mail election worked well. It’s best to vote early enough, though, so these wrinkles can get ironed out.