NJ Spotlight’s Colleen O’Dea reports

Thousands of New Jerseyans’ votes were not counted in each of the last two federal elections due to issues with their signatures on mail-in ballots, two prominent organizations point out. This has prompted them to sue the state in federal court to try to force it to fix a signature verification system they contend is unconstitutional.

The League of Women Voters of New Jersey, NAACP New Jersey State Conference and a disabled voter filed a complaint Monday in U.S. District Court against New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way, whose department oversees elections, alleging the state’s current law regarding the verification of vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots violates both the 1st and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. They contend the state disenfranchises thousands of voters every year by a system that allows county officials to reject a VBM ballot when a signature does not match the one on file without telling the voter and giving him a chance to prove he voted, as some other states do.