678:
636:
39:
855:," 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
784:
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
757:
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
878:
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.
835:
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
886:
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.
820:. However, those states may choose to use provisional ballots. As of 2015, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming used them for some purposes, while the other three did not have provisional ballots at all.
828:
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.
774:
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.
758:
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.
781:. 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.
1132:
1009:
890:
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.
700:
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
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356:
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682:
321:
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351:
190:
293:
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Though the Act mandates the use of provisional ballots nationwide, it exempted the six states that had been exempted from the
883:
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Before the implementation of provisional ballots, some state laws allowed a voter whose eligibility was challenged to cast a
707:
guarantees that, in most states, the voter can cast a provisional ballot if the voter states that they are entitled to vote.
1168:
496:
1129:
844:
742:
The voter's registration contains inaccurate or outdated information such as the wrong address or a misspelled name
664:
923:
871:
According to the
Election Assistance Commission thousands of provisional ballots are not counted each election.
689:
341:
875:
618:
278:
1074:"How does a Republican lead on election night and still lose Pennsylvania? It's called the 'blue shift.'"
1053:
Foley, Edward B.; Stewart III, Charles (2015-08-28). "Explaining the Blue Shift in
Election Canvassing".
269:
983:
1040:
298:
235:
1156:
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than the electorate as a whole, and that this contributes to a phenomenon, first identified by
722:(polling place), because the voter is not registered to vote or is registered to vote elsewhere
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288:
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852:
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704:
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245:
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voters who could have cast valid ballots had they been redirected to the proper precinct.
8:
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402:
1205:
613:
572:
162:
147:
101:
96:
1036:
843:
Academic research has suggested that provisional ballots tend to lean more toward the
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767:
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450:
331:
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217:
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132:
111:
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23:
1200:
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837:
832:
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445:
397:
240:
226:
984:"The National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA) | CRT | Department of Justice"
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966:
856:
750:
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640:
567:
550:
486:
412:
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64:
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805:
771:
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608:
526:
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181:
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A Californian voter fills out a provisional ballot form while voting in the
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603:
587:
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426:
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172:
137:
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577:
460:
440:
167:
635:
860:
435:
303:
127:
87:
1130:
Provisional Voting: Fail-Safe Voting or
Trapdoor to Disenfranchisement
710:
Some of the most common reasons to cast a provisional ballot include:
1140:
921:
813:
801:
83:
725:
The voter's eligibility cannot be established or has been challenged
336:
817:
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but claims to have not received, or not cast, the absentee ballot
16:
Ballot cast requiring further verification of voter's eligibility
1169:"KERRY WON OHIO - JUST COUNT THE BALLOTS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS"
792:
because those states had and continue to have either "same-day"
55:
30:
970:
797:
38:
753:), the voter's party registration is listed incorrectly
1179:"20 Crucial Electoral Votes May Be Stuck in Limbo"
1043:Hearing on election preparedness October 7, 2004.
882:Studies of the use of provisional ballots in the
1192:
1052:
658:
732:document (in jurisdictions that require one)
1157:"Provisional ballots could decide election"
922:National Conference of State Legislatures.
367:Parallel voting (Mixed member majoritarian)
884:2006 general election in the United States
665:
651:
332:Mixed single vote (positive vote transfer)
270:Proportional and semi-proportional systems
831:Computer scientist and election official
714:The voter's name does not appear on the
683:2004 United States presidential election
676:
796:or no registration requirement at all:
790:National Voter Registration Act of 1993
1193:
948:The Election Laws of the State of Ohio
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907:
905:
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866:
1125:
1123:
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13:
1120:
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227:Plurality and majoritarian systems
14:
1217:
1150:
1072:Lai, Jonathan (27 January 2020).
946:Title XIV, Chapter 5, Sec. 4922,
785:as a website or a phone number).
337:Scorporo (negative vote transfer)
1037:Reliability of US Voting Systems
1010:"Ballot mixup puts more heat..."
950:, Ohio Secretary of State, 1920.
634:
37:
735:The voter requested to vote by
1090:
1065:
1046:
1026:
1001:
976:
953:
940:
690:elections in the United States
342:Mixed ballot transferable vote
1:
893:
876:2004 US Presidential Election
705:Help America Vote Act of 2002
971:Minnesota Secretary of State
619:End-to-end verifiable voting
279:Single non-transferable vote
7:
1039:, Prepared Remarks for the
477:Voting patterns and effects
10:
1222:
1041:Congressional Black Caucus
960:Election Day "Challengers"
761:
299:Single transferable voting
236:First-past-the-post voting
749:(limited to members of a
492:Voting advice application
322:Mixed-member proportional
251:Plurality-at-large voting
1098:"Let The Recounts Begin"
357:Rural–urban proportional
352:Dual-member proportional
327:Additional member system
1162:The Cincinnati Enquirer
1008:EL (10 November 2018).
685:
507:Passive electioneering
408:Straight-ticket voting
1078:Philadelphia Inquirer
924:"Provisional Ballots"
770:to have observers at
680:
362:Majority bonus system
347:Alternative Vote Plus
246:Instant-runoff voting
730:photo identification
313:Mixed-member systems
1141:Advancement Project
867:Rates of acceptance
641:Politics portal
403:Split-ticket voting
1135:2008-10-22 at the
965:2008-11-06 at the
824:Potential problems
794:voter registration
728:The voter lacks a
694:provisional ballot
686:
614:Voter registration
573:Voter intimidation
97:Write-in candidate
70:Provisional ballot
779:challenged ballot
768:political parties
675:
674:
626:
625:
583:Voter suppression
563:Ballot harvesting
541:
540:
502:Paradox of voting
468:
467:
451:None of the above
383:Voting strategies
374:
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284:Cumulative voting
218:Electoral systems
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143:Electronic voting
133:Compulsory voting
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1144:
1143:, Sept. 16, 2008
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1118:
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1104:. Archived from
1102:National Journal
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1063:
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1033:Douglas W. Jones
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845:Democratic Party
833:Douglas W. Jones
698:affidavit ballot
667:
660:
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639:
638:
557:
556:
517:Political apathy
481:
480:
446:Election boycott
387:
386:
241:Two-round system
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18:
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1184:Washington Post
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1137:Wayback Machine
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990:. 6 August 2015
988:www.justice.gov
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981:
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967:Wayback Machine
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869:
857:electoral fraud
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751:political party
737:absentee ballot
671:
633:
628:
627:
568:Ballot stuffing
554:
551:Electoral fraud
543:
542:
487:Coattail effect
478:
470:
469:
413:Tactical voting
384:
376:
375:
289:Binomial system
220:
210:
209:
88:Ballot measures
65:Absentee ballot
49:
24:Politics series
17:
12:
11:
5:
1219:
1209:
1208:
1203:
1189:
1188:
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1152:
1151:External links
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1146:
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1108:on Nov 8, 2006
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838:disenfranchise
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772:polling places
763:
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747:closed primary
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723:
718:for the given
716:electoral roll
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553:and prevention
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512:Vote splitting
509:
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458:
456:Refused ballot
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766:The right of
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527:Voter turnout
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427:Protest votes
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398:Fusion voting
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158:Postal voting
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153:Polling place
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1110:. Retrieved
1106:the original
1101:
1092:
1081:. Retrieved
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1067:
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1028:
1016:. Retrieved
1012:
1003:
992:. Retrieved
987:
978:
973:, June 2008.
955:
942:
931:. Retrieved
928:www.ncsl.org
927:
889:
881:
873:
870:
849:Edward Foley
842:
830:
827:
810:North Dakota
787:
783:
778:
776:
765:
756:
709:
697:
693:
687:
604:Election ink
588:Voter caging
497:Likely voter
418:Vote pairing
393:Issue voting
191:Popular vote
173:Voting booth
138:Early voting
69:
22:Part of the
1173:Greg Palast
1018:20 November
696:(called an
578:Vote buying
461:Spoilt vote
441:Donkey vote
168:Vote center
148:Open ballot
1195:Categories
1083:2020-08-03
994:2018-06-26
933:2018-06-26
894:References
861:corruption
853:blue shift
851:known as "
596:Prevention
436:Abstention
304:Spare vote
294:Party-list
128:Ballot box
120:Collection
102:Electorate
84:Candidates
1206:Elections
814:Wisconsin
802:Minnesota
48:Balloting
1133:Archived
1013:Fox News
963:Archived
720:precinct
182:Counting
163:Precinct
1201:Ballots
1112:May 10,
1059:2653456
818:Wyoming
762:History
702:federal
56:Ballots
1057:
816:, and
112:Ticket
31:Voting
798:Idaho
745:In a
196:Tally
107:Slate
1171:(by
1114:2022
1055:SSRN
1020:2018
874:The
692:, a
86:and
859:or
688:In
1197::
1139:,
1122:^
1100:.
1076:.
1035:,
986:.
969:,
926:.
902:^
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800:,
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1181:(
1175:)
1165:)
1159:(
1116:.
1086:.
1061:.
1022:.
997:.
936:.
666:e
659:t
652:v
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