As for the 100 mail-in ballots, none of the three individuals asked to review signature matches — one forensic examiner retained by Ward, one retained by the defendants and one county election official — indicated they suspected invalid or fraudulent signatures.
At most, there were a handful of cases where the limited number of signatures on file made it impossible to match envelope signatures to the standard used by handwriting experts. But county officials don't use that standard, which is typically applied in criminal cases where experts have to be sure "beyond a reasonable doubt."
"Our voters are not on trial," state elections Director Bo Dul testified Friday, noting that election officials have other information available to them to help verify a voter's identity. "It's not a comparable process."
In his ruling, Warner said there was "no evidence that the manner in which signatures were reviewed was designed to benefit one candidate or another, or that there was any misconduct, impropriety, or violation of Arizona law with respect to the review of mail-in ballots."
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