Friday, February 13, 2015

How to match a signature.

You can look at a signature and see if it looks like another signature, but that's not what I mean here. I was just reading about the proposed NFL stadium in Los Angeles. All was fine until I got near the end, then it sounded rather suspect to me.

They said some signatures were disqualified because, "the signature did not match voting records." Now I have to wonder, what does that mean, exactly? Are they looking at signature design, as the bank looks at signatures for forgeries? Or are they looking for names that do and do not match? That seems more likely, but it raises the question as to what really qualifies as a matching name. For example, if my name were Elizabeth Jane Doe on my voting record and I signed my name as Betty Doe, does that mean you eliminate my signature completely? Or what if I sign it Elizabeth J. Doe? Is that also eliminated? You see what I mean? Where do you draw the line saying it doesn't match?

Now let us consider the implications here. If it doesn't match, then this basically means that my right as a signatory is violated. I personally don't remember how I wrote my name on my voting record. Using the example above my drivers license says Elizabeth Jane Jones Doe, but my signature is actually Betty Doe. No, that's not my name, but the point is I have a nickname that I use as my signature, but my legal name is something else. I signed my driver's license that way so I could legally show you I am Betty, if it becomes a question.

So again, this means that it is very likely my rights would have been violated if they were "matching" signatures. You can roll your eyes at that a thousand times, but it does not make it any less true. If I am a registered voter and I signed the petition, my signature should count. End of story.

So how can we fix this problem? Gee, I don't know... maybe a voter ID system? Why are Democrats so quick to spit out rights violations when it comes to voter ID but not when voter signatures get eliminated? I don't understand that. It seems to me that writing down a number is much more finite than what is written in a signature. You cannot NOT match a number. It is either that number or it isn't. Unlike signatures, it isn't subjective.

Besides, I can't even read my husband's signature, so does that mean he'll never be counted? Ever? If you can't read the signature then this means you cannot match it unless the government (and this is a real laugh to even consider) would use some sort of character recognition that would scan voter records for a similar looking match. Yeah, right.

Yes I know, it's only a NFL stadium and it's not grossly important, however it still raises the issue of voter rights. When will Democrats ever learn?

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