Flags decorate the satellite voting station outside of the Hy-Vee location on 1st Ave NE on Thursday, October 4, 2012. (Kyle Grillot/The Gazette-KCRG)

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz said Monday he may ask state lawmakers to consider implementing a signature verification system, given that nearly half of Iowans who voted in the Nov. 6 general election did so by voting early or casting absentee ballots.

The Republican state elections commissioner said he is exploring the possibility of establishing a system in Iowa, modeled after Oregon and Washington, that would use a machine to read a signature on an absentee ballot envelope and verify it by matching it with the voter’s signature on registration records.

“It’s just a way to make sure that people are who they say they are when they vote,” the secretary of state told reporters Monday. “We had almost 46 percent of the state vote early and vote absentee, so we’re going to be discussing signature verification as something that maybe we should be looking at doing just like Oregon and Washington do with absentee ballots.”

What do you think? Should Iowa add a voter signature verification process for absentee ballot voters?