How ballot curing could decide those super tight races

It’s been more than two weeks since Election Day and a handful of races are still nail-biters (looking at you, 45th Congressional District). Their final outcomes may be determined by a process happening right now called “ballot curing.” That’s when voters receive notices of technical errors on their ballots and get an opportunity to fix them. Here’s a little more on how it works.

When does a ballot need to be cured?

Ballots get flagged when the signature on the outside of the envelope looks amiss.

When ballots arrive at the L.A. County registrar’s office, for example, they get scanned by a device that compares the signature on the ballot to the signature on a voter’s state record — often a California driver’s license.

If the signatures don’t match, or if the signature is missing from the ballot, it gets pulled for human review. If registrar officials determine there’s still a mismatch, the voter will get notified that they need to fix the error. By contrast, Orange County does this entire process through trained staff and doesn't use automated signature verification devices.

If the voter provides a matching signature by the deadline, their vote gets counted. If they don’t respond in time or the signature still doesn’t match, their ballot gets rejected.

Does curing happen everywhere in California?

Yes. This process is required by state law.

Nationwide, some form of ballot curing is allowed in 33 states. However, in some states it’s only allowed in some counties and not others. (This is a big deal right now in Pennsylvania, which saw a heated fight over ballot curing ahead of a Senate race recount.)

How many ballots get rejected?

Overall, not many.

In the March 2024 primary, 2,615 L.A. County vote-by-mail ballots were rejected for having mismatched or missing signatures. In Orange County, 4,487 ballots were rejected for signature issues.

These are tiny figures compared to the overall number of vote-by-mail ballots that were accepted — 1.3 million for L.A. County and 1.8 million for Orange County. (Other ballots get rejected for various reasons, like if they arrive too late, if voters already cast a vote for the same election, or if the voter doesn’t have an ID on file. The rejection rate is between 1-2% for most California counties.)

How do I know if my ballot needs to be cured?

You’ll get a notice in the mail at the address you provided on your voter registration. Election officials will also try to reach you through an email address or phone number if you provided that on your registration.

When’s the deadline to fix errors?

Voters who get a notice must respond by Dec. 1. If they provide a matching signature before then, their ballot will be counted. Those who miss the deadline or whose signatures still don’t match will have their ballots rejected.