Quote:
Originally Posted by Dowly
Right, that makes sense. What are provisional ballots? It seems they are often related to recounts?
Sorry, I'm feeling lazy today. I've tried to follow it, but as a foreigner your election system just confuses me.  |
The election system here can be confusing to a lot of us who vote in the US, sometimes even confusing to those charged with administering and overseeing the elections. There are several differing voting systems and methods across the States and even within the individual states, with every method from low tech 'make your mark' pencil/pen and paper to mechanical lever-pull machines to high tech computerized touchscreens. There is no standard at all for the means/methods of voting and every jurisdiction can do as it pleases. The responsibility for administering the process falls, usually, to the County-level governments...
Provisional ballots are used when a voter is voting in an unusual situation: they claim to be registered but the polling place does not have them on their rolls; they are voting at a polling place other then their own precinct, usually because they are unable to get to their precinct in time or easily to vote; there is some discrepancy between information on the rolls and their proffered ID; etc. In those type of cases, the voter is given what is called the "provisional ballot", where the acceptance of the ballot officially is pending a physical, manual determination against official records of the actual eligibility and legitimacy of the voter to cast a ballot. Depending on the number of provisional ballots, the review process can be lengthy...
Another reason for the long delay in getting a final count is a number of other ballot-types, such as mail-in ballots, and drop-off ballots (which are usually mail-in ballots voters decide to, instead of mailing them in, drop them off at a polling place on Election Day); and, there are a number of 'questionable' ballots that, for one reason or another, are rejected by the mechanical/electronic counting systems or otherwise have incomplete or conflicting data, and these also require a time-consuming manual review...
When you see the Election Night results and they report "100% of the Precincts Reporting", they are only acknowledging the votes counted by whatever system is in use, either electronic or mechanical; the other ballots requiring manual review or input are not part of that "100%", so, in many areas, there are still a lot of ballots to be counted yet. In Los Angeles County alone, on Wednesday morning after the Election, there were over 1,000,000 mail-in ballots yet to be processed and counted and there were an unknown number of other provisional ballots to be verified. So, when you see an election race where there is a very tight margin of difference in the vote for that particular race on the Election Night reports, it is to be remembered the numbers given are almost always based on the easily processed votes and are exclusive of those ballot that are outside of the 'usual' process...
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