A Texas law that requires the submission of a physical signature on voter registration applications has been upheld by an appeals court.
A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law that requires an original pen-on-paper signature on a voter registration application, delivering a win for advocates of election integrity measures.
“This is just one of the many election integrity laws we passed to make it harder for cheaters to cheat,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement on social media, praising the 2-1 ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals with respect to what’s been dubbed the “wet ink signature” law for voter registration.
The “wet ink signature” law requires Texans who submit their voter registration applications by fax or electronic means to additionally submit a physical copy of their application containing an original pen-on-paper signature.
“Texas’ interests in reliability and fraud deterrence are ‘legitimate,’” the majority opinion states, noting that the signature requirement ensures the kind of security and reliability that a third-party app or other electronic means cannot provide.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit challenging the wet signature rule that was brought by Vote.org, a voter advocacy group and voting technology platform that provides an e-sign tool. The group argued that the wet signature law unduly burdens the right to vote and violates the First and 14th Amendments, as well as the so-called “materiality provision” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that the right to vote cannot be denied for errors or omissions that are considered trivial or “not material.”
The appeals court rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments, stating in the opinion that “Texas’s justification that an original signature advances voter integrity is legitimate, is far more than tenuous, and, under the totality of the circumstances, makes such a signature a material requirement.”
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Stephen Higginson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, objected to the reasoning, arguing that Texas has no problem accepting signatures in electronic format when completed at Texas Department of Public Safety offices or other areas outside of voter registration procedures.
By Tom Ozimek
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