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Rule 4. (1) Elections officials shall consider the following as possible explanations for
the discrepancies in signatures:
(a) Evidence of trembling or shaking in a signature could be health-related or the result
of aging.
(b) The voter may have used a diminutive of their full legal name, including, but not
limited to, the use of initials, or the rearrangement of components of their full legal name,
such as a reversal of first and last names, use of a middle name in place of a first name, or
omitting a second last name.
(c) The voter’s signature style may have changed slightly over time.
(d) The signature may have been written in haste.
(e) The surface of the location where the signature was made may have been rough,
soft, uneven, or unstable.
(2) In addition to the characteristics listed in R 168.23(2)(f) and (g), the elections
official may also consider factors applicable to a particular voter, such as the age of the
voter, the age of the signature or signatures contained in the voter’s record, the possibility
that the voter is disabled, the voter’s primary language, and the quality of any digitized
signature or signatures contained in the voter’s record, and any other plausible reason
given by the voter that satisfies the clerk when following up on a questionable signature.
R 168.25 Timing of signature review and notification.
Rule 5. (1) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is
received at least 6 calendar days prior to the election, the clerk must notify the voter of
issues with the voter’s signature by the end of the next business day following receipt of
the application or ballot envelope.
(2) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is received
less than 5 calendar days prior to the election, an election official must review that absent
voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope by the end of the calendar day on
which the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope was received by
the clerk. If the election official determines that the voter’s signature on the absent voter
ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope does not agree sufficiently with the
signature on file, the election official must contact the voter by the end of the calendar
day on which the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope was
received by the clerk.
(3) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is received
by the clerk by 8 p.m. on the calendar day prior to an election, an election official must
review the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope before the end
of the calendar day prior to the election. If the election official determines that the voter’s
signature on the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope does not
agree sufficiently with the signature on file, the election official must contact the voter by
the end of the calendar day prior to the election.
(4) For the purposes of this rule, if the absent voter ballot application or absent voter
ballot envelope comes into the physical control of the clerk’s office before or during the
clerk’s scheduled business hours, that absent voter ballot application or absent voter
ballot envelope is considered to have been received by the clerk on the day of
submission. If an absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope comes