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Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) 1999

The ESIGN Act (The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) 2000),
as mentioned in section 104, “supersedes any requirement by a Federal
regulatory agency, self-regulatory organization, or State regulatory
agency” that requires “specified standards or formats”.

Many States have enacted more recent laws governing electronic signatures, even adopted The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) which was also proposed by NCCUSL . For State specific laws please go to my E-SIGN laws page.

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) was proposed by the National
Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and since
then many States have adopted it into their own laws. It provides
guidelines for modern commercial transactions and make the laws uniform
among various jurisdictions. The National Conference of Commissioners
on Uniform State Laws has worked for the uniformity of state laws since
1892. It is a non-profit unincorporated association, comprised of state
commissions on uniform laws from each state, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Information regarding The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), along with
a list of the states that have adopted the UCC, can be found at the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) website.

UCC Article 1 Part 2 § 1-201 under General Definitions

(39) "Signed" includes any symbol executed or adopted by a party with present intention to authenticate a writing.
(46) "Written" or "writing" includes printing, typewriting or any other intentional reduction to tangible form.

This "tangiable form" does not require ink and paper. Over
100 years ago, people were using Morse code and the telegraph to
electronically accept contracts. An early validation of this form of
electronic signature came from the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1869
and later in regards to faxes and even audio recordings.

Article 2 Part 2 § 2-201. Formal Requirements; Statute of Frauds.

(1) ... is not enforceable by way of action or defense unless there is some writing sufficient to indicate
that a contract for sale has been made between the parties and signed
by the party against whom enforcement is sought or by his authorized
agent or broker.

As pointed out above, an electronic signature does meet the defininition of "writing", as the electronic file can be printed at any time to produce a "tangible form".