(CNN) Georgia election officials must stop rejecting absentee ballots with voters' signatures that do not appear to match those on record, a federal judge said Wednesday.

Two federal lawsuits have charged that election officials in Gwinnett County, located northeast of Atlanta, have violated voters' rights by rejecting hundreds of absentee ballots, some of which were tossed due to "signature mismatch" issues.

US District Judge Leigh Martin May issued a proposed ruling that would prohibit election officials from rejecting absentee ballots due to alleged signature mismatches, but said the parties in the case would have until noon Thursday to comment on the instructions for handling those situations.

The proposed order stated that county officials would be required to mark absentee ballots with signature mismatches as provisional, send voters pre-rejection notices and resolve issues within three days after Election Day.

Sophia Lakin, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed one of the lawsuits, said that although Georgia election officials can suggest changes to the judge's proposed instructions, the ruling shows a loosening of restrictions.

Read More