This is going to be to 2004 what hanging chad was to 2000. But I can’t figure out how this works. Scenario: you show up to vote. Your eligibility to vote is challenged. So they have you complete a provisional ballot. What then? Are all provisional ballots put into one box and then either they all get counted or all don’t? If not, how do they determine which provisional ballots are to be counted and which are not? And exactly who determines (1) if you need to cast a provisional ballot and (2) which provisional ballots ultimately are counted?
I think this was addressed on electoral vote.com a few days ago, but I can’t find the cite. Anyway, as I recall, if you were unceratin about your voting eligibilaty, you would cast a provisional ballot, and then at a later date, someone would see if you are in fact eligible to vote. If not, your ballot is thrown out. If you are, then it’s counted.
:smack: It was on yesterday’s report:
But does that mean that your name is attached to the ballot until they decide that your vote should count? So anyone with access to the provisional ballots can see how you voted? I’m having a hard time reconciling the logistics of a secret ballot with the ability to count or not count individuals.
I think you put your ballot in an umarked envelope then put that envelope in an envelope with your name on it. Then if they determine you are eligible to vote they open the outer envelope and mix the inner envelope up with all the other inner envelopes then open envelopes up and count the ballots.
Now that makes sense. Thanks, I was racking my brain trying to think how it would work.
The very first time I voted (1984 California primary) I had to cast a provisional ballot. I was living in the dorms, but my absentee ballot got lost (turns out that the person I shared the box with just threw it away thinking it was junk mail.)
So I drove home (not far) because I could vote. And my polling place had me down as “absentee”, so I had to cast a provisional ballot. I had to sign an affadavit that I hadn’t already voted and my ballot was put into a special envelope and it wasn’t opened and counted presumably until they checked off the absentee ballots received.
I’m working as an election official this year, so I’ll just confirm that in my county, things are pretty much as has been said. The ballot is actually the same as everyone else’s ballot, but the voter needs to fill in some information on an envelope and put the ballot inside. The envelope is examined, and if the information agrees with that of a registered voter who hasn’t voted somewhere else, the envelope is opened and the ballot is counted along with all the others. It is very similar to the way absentee ballots are handled.
Allowing registration at the polls on election day would pretty much eliminate the need for any ‘provisional ballots’. As it already does in Minnesota and some other states.
And since most of the ‘vote suppression’ efforts are aimed at destroying/delaying/rejecting voter registrations until after the deadline, these would become pointless, too.
I’m all for same-day registration, Wisconsin’s had it forever, but it does open up a small window for fraud. If one is registered at address A but since last voting has moved to address B, one could vote at address A’s poll and then same-day register at address B’s poll and vote again.
What really needs to change about provisional ballots is the ludicrous court rulings that if one votes provisionally in the wrong precinct, one’s entire ballot is discarded rather than just discounting the races unique to that precinct.
Well, here in Minnesota, you would be caught at that fraud. All registrations go to a state database, and are cross-checked with SSN and Drivers License, and your record is updated to indicate that you voted in this election. So they would soon catch that the same person voted twice. And there is a hefty penalty for voter fraud.
I suppose if enough people did this, it could affect the results in a close race, since I think your vote is counted anyway. Maybe the Judge could order you to testify how you voted, and then subtract 1 from the count for those candidates?
Yes, why can’t they just transport the ballot to the correct precinct to be counted, like they do for absentee ballots?
This is what I’ve seen for “affidavit ballots”, which have been available in New York for many years. The outer envelope has a section which the voter fills out and swears to before an election inspector. If the challenge is resolved so that the vote counts, the inner envelope is removed and anonymously counted.
Because the ballot have local offices that may not be for election in your precinct.
“I voted for Bush, take a vote off his tally.” Heh.
Then only count the votes for those elections which are common to both districts/precincts. There’s no logical reason why a vote for president, senator, or representative (assuming the same federal district), or statewide elective offices like governor or attorney general or statewide initiatives shouldn’t be counted if a provisional voter is properly registered but goes to the wrong polling place by mistake. The penalty of not having their votes counted for school board or city council or whatever is sufficient for making the mistake; it’s wrong to disenfranchise them entirely for the mistake.