Provisional ballot
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In
elections in the United States Elections in the United States are held for Official, government officials at the Federal government of the United States, federal, State governments of the United States, state, and Local government in the United States, local levels. At the ...
, a provisional ballot (called an affidavit ballot in New York) is used to record a vote when there are questions about a given voter's eligibility that must be resolved before the vote can count. The
federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
Help America Vote Act of 2002 guarantees that, in most states, the voter can cast a provisional ballot if the voter states that they are entitled to vote. Some of the most common reasons to cast a provisional ballot include: *The voter's name does not appear on the
electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
for the given precinct (polling place), because the voter is not registered to vote or is registered to vote elsewhere *The voter's eligibility cannot be established or has been challenged *The voter lacks a
photo identification Photo identification or photo ID is an identity document that includes a photograph of the holder, usually only their face. The most commonly accepted forms of photo ID are those issued by government authorities, such as driver's licenses, ide ...
document (in jurisdictions that require one) *The voter requested to vote by
absentee ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...
but claims to have not received, or not cast, the absentee ballot *The voter's registration contains inaccurate or outdated information such as the wrong address or a misspelled name *In a
closed primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
(limited to members of a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
), the voter's party registration is listed incorrectly Whether a provisional ballot is counted is contingent upon the verification of that voter's eligibility, which may involve local election officials reviewing government records or asking the voter for more information, such as a photo identification not presented at the polling place or proof of residence. Each state may set its own timing rules for when these issues must be resolved. Provisional ballots therefore cannot usually be counted until after the day of the election.


History

The right of
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
to have observers at
polling place A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building
s is long-standing. One of the established roles for such observers is to act as challengers, in the event that someone attempts to vote at the polling place who is not eligible to vote. Before the implementation of provisional ballots, some state laws allowed a voter whose eligibility was challenged to cast a ''challenged ballot''. After the polls closed, the canvassing board was then charged with examining the challenged ballots and determining whether the challenge was to be upheld or not. The Help America Vote Act brings a degree of uniformity to the array of various challenged ballot rules enacted by various states. For example, each state must provide a means for the voter to find out whether his or her ballot was counted, though the states may use different ways of doing so (such as a website or a phone number). Though the Act mandates the use of provisional ballots nationwide, it exempted the six states that had been exempted from the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993 The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), also known as the Motor Voter Act, is a United States federal law signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 20, 1993, that came into effect on January 1, 1995. The law was enacted und ...
because those states had and continue to have either "same-day"
voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...
or no registration requirement at all:
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
,
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
,
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
,
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, and
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
. However, those states may choose to use provisional ballots. , North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming used them for some purposes, while the other three did not have provisional ballots at all.


Potential problems

In the 2018 midterm elections, both valid and invalid provisional ballots were mixed together in Florida after the initial vote count, which provided no way to be separated for the recount. Computer scientist and election official
Douglas W. Jones Douglas W. Jones is an American computer scientist at the University of Iowa. His research focuses primarily on computer security, particularly electronic voting. Jones received a Bachelor of Science, B.S. in physics from Carnegie Mellon Univer ...
has criticized the offer of a provisional ballot as "a way to brush off troublesome voters by letting them think they have voted." He expressed the concern that, under some states' laws, casting a provisional ballot at the wrong precinct would
disenfranchise Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. ...
voters who could have cast valid ballots had they been redirected to the proper precinct. Academic research has suggested that provisional ballots tend to lean more toward the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
than the electorate as a whole, and that this contributes to a phenomenon, first identified by Edward Foley known as "
blue shift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...
," under which Democrats increase their share of the vote as more ballots are counted. This can potentially result in a different outcome from the one indicated by the initial count on the night of the election. Some experts on voting have suggested that this shift could be misunderstood and lead to erroneous claims of
electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
or
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
.


Rates of acceptance

According to the Election Assistance Commission thousands of provisional ballots are not counted each election. The 2004 US Presidential Election was the first presidential election conducted under the Help America Vote Act's provisions. Nationwide, at least 1.9 million provisional ballots were cast, and 676,000 were never counted due to various states' rules on counting provisional ballots. Studies of the use of provisional ballots in the 2006 general election in the United States show that around 21% of provisional ballots were rejected. About 44% of these were cast by voters who were not registered, but many other rejections were for reasons that were "preventable," such as an incorrect precinct or missing signature.Provisional Voting: Fail-Safe Voting or Trapdoor to Disenfranchisement

Advancement Project
Sept. 16, 2008
The rates of rejection vary widely across the states, with some states counting all or nearly all provisional ballots while others reject more than half.


References


External links



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The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...
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"KERRY WON OHIO - JUST COUNT THE BALLOTS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS"
(by
Greg Palast Gregory Allyn Palast (born June 26, 1952) is an author and a freelance journalist who often worked for the BBC and ''The Guardian''. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but he has also worked with labour unions and consumer adv ...
)
"20 Crucial Electoral Votes May Be Stuck in Limbo"
(''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
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