California Always Uses Signature Verification
The Claim
California is requiring signature verification for Gavin Newsom’s recall, but didn’t require it for mail-in ballots during the 2020 election.
News posted on
Emerging story
On February 15th, 2021, actor Kevin Sorbo tweeted, “So California is requiring signature verification for Gavin Newsom’s recall, but didn’t require it for the mail in ballots. How strange.”
The tweet quickly received more than 24K retweets. Many users reacted by pointing out the hypocrisy of not having the same standards during a recall as a Presidential election.
Other users claimed that this is false and that California did require signature verification for mail-in ballots.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be fake. According to Ballotpedia, California law clearly lays out the signature verification process regarding absentee/mail-in ballots: “Upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, the elections official shall compare the signature on the identification envelope with either of the following to determine if the signatures compare: (A) The signature appearing on the voter’s affidavit of registration or any previous affidavit of registration of the voter. (B) The signature appearing on a form issued by an elections official that contains the voter’s signature and that is part of the voter’s registration record.”
This information was confirmed in a tweet by California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber: “CA county elections officials verify the signatures on EVERY vote-by-mail ballot, initiative, referendum, or recall petition, candidate nomination document.”
In the tweet, she linked to the California Secretary of State website which details the California Code of Regulations regarding Signature Verification, Ballot Processing, and Ballot Counting.
Ron Nehring, a Republican who served as National Spokesman in 2016 for Ted Cruz, responded to the original tweet by Kevin Sorbo, calling it false and saying, “Republican ideas are strong enough that we should not rely on spreading falsehoods like this to ‘win.’”
