A student’s uncounted ballot pointed out Nevada’s signature verification issues in the 2024 election

In Feb. 2016, Jonni Winn went with her mother to the local elementary school to participate in the Democratic caucus for the Nevada primaries. The 11-year-old watched her mom vote for the candidate she liked best — that is, by moving to a section of the room that corresponded to that person.

“It was so much fun,” Winn said. “Watching her made me really excited to vote when I was older.”

Eight years later, Winn was ready to live that reality and vote in the 2024 presidential election. A lifelong Las Vegan, Winn chose to register to vote by mail in her hometown rather than in Eugene, where she is a sophomore at the University of Oregon.

“Watching her made me really excited to vote when I was older.”

Winn also recognized the political implications of voting in Nevada, a swing state that could decide the outcome of the election.

“I figured I may as well vote at home where I’ll feel important when I’m watching the results,” she said.

Winn mailed in her ballot in mid-October. A few days before the election, she checked her ballot’s status on the Nevada voter portal. Her eyes widened as she read that her ballot had been received, but hadn’t been counted, she said.

She wasn’t alone. In the coming days, stories came out about other Nevadans having this same issue. Across the state, election officials reported having trouble verifying mail-in ballots because of signature mismatches, according to an article on Insidehighered.com. The majority of problems were found in the ballots of Generation Z voters, due to a lack of signatures on record that could be used in the verification process.

“The signature that [younger voters] have is the signature on their voter registration form, and sometimes it’s in a digital form at the DMV,” said Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar outside a Las Vegas polling center on Nov. 5, according to the same article. “Without a long history, it’s hard to compare their signatures.”

Voters were able to “cure” (fix) their ballot signatures until 5 p.m. on Nov. 12 by contacting their county election office, according to a press release published by Aguilar’s office the same day. Winn said she didn’t realize that was a possibility until the deadline had already passed.

In Nevada, cursive education itself can be an issue. It’s not a requirement for elementary schools in the state to teach cursive, said Shannon Lowery, a teacher at Helen Marie Smith Elementary school in Las Vegas. Because of this, she doesn’t teach it in her class — though she wishes she could.

“[Students] must be able to sign their name,” said Lowery, who has taught third grade for a decade. “When you sign an application for a job, college, driver’s license… that shouldn’t be the first time you’re doing that.”

Lowery allows them to practice cursive using worksheets during her school’s breakfast time at the beginning of each school day. She isn’t able to provide them with in-depth instruction during those 15 minutes, but she hopes it can improve their writing skills, she said.

Despite this, Lowery finds that many students are still not proficient in reading or understanding cursive. Her and her coworkers will sometimes pass notes to each other in cursive, knowing the students cannot decipher them.

“It sounds horrible, but it’s our little secret language,” she said.

Though not a statewide requirement, Winn was taught cursive at her elementary school. She said she passed the test on her first try and earned a “cursive license.”

“When I passed I did everything I could in cursive,” she said. “But it only lasted for a month.”

When it comes to mail-in voting, Winn believes that there should be another system to verify ballots, because most people don’t sign their name in cursive anymore.

“I signed [my driver’s license] when I was 15, and now I’m 19 — I’d hope my handwriting has improved since then,” Winn said.

“Cursive is kind of a dying language.”

Lowery agrees.

“Cursive is kind of a dying language,” she said, and emphasized its inconsistency. “My signature changes from when I’m signing a document at work to something like a check or if I’m signing my kid’s reading log.”

The final number of uncounted ballots due to signature verification issues in Nevada is around 9,000 votes. Winn believes hers was among them, and is disappointed she didn’t have a say in the election — one she said was important to her.

Despite the signature issues, Winn is still looking forward to the opportunity to follow in her mom’s footsteps and vote in four years.

“I’ll make sure I check my driver’s license signature next time,” Winn said as she clicked around the Nevada voter portal. “But I still check my status every once and a while — just in case anything has changed.”