How many mail ballots make it through the signature verification machine?

Nevadans’ mail ballots go through a lengthy process after the voter drops them off at a mailbox or an official election drop box, including a process of verifying the voter’s signature, but what are the hoops ballots must have to make it through the signature verification process?

The Clark County Election Department’s Agilis machine — one of the many machines that are part of the voting and tabulation process — takes a digital image of the signature on the mail ballot envelope and compares it with the signature on the voter’s registration application in accordance with Nevada’s laws. If the Agilis machine can’t match the signatures, the mail ballot envelope will be reviewed manually.

There are certain data points on a signature that are used when identifying a signature on a mail ballot in comparison to the voters’ last signature on record, according to Clark County Public Information Officer Stephanie Wheatley.

The county has two Agilis machines that can each process about 18,000 signatures per hour.

If a signature is sent through the curing process, a bipartisan team that has completed a forensic signature class through the secretary of state’s office reviews all the signatures on record to determine if the signature is valid or needs further verification. If further verification is needed, the voter is then contacted by the election department.

There is not a specific percentage of similarity the signatures must have in order to be approved. The Automatic Signature Recognition program gives each signature a score, and typically the machine accepts between 20 to 25 percent of the envelopes and signatures. The bipartisan teams look at the rest, about 75 to 80 percent, according to Wheatley.

Signature update forms help increase the acceptance rate from the machine, Wheatley said.