A federal judge has ruled that a Florida law that could lead to the rejection of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots is unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said a 2004 law that allows county supervisors of elections to reject mail-in ballots with signatures that do not appear to match signatures on file was “indefensible.” Siding with the Florida Democratic Judge Walker issued a preliminary injunction ordering a process that would allow voters to resolve questions about such mismatched signature ballots and have the ballots counted.