How does provisional voting work

In either instance, the voter is entitled to vote a provisional ballot at the polling place based on their current address. The elections official is required to count the ballot if the voter's signature on the provisional ballot envelope matches the signature on the voter's prior registration form.

The elections official is then required to re-register the voter at their new address for all future elections. Elections Code sections , , , et seq. Voters who are not on the polling place roster for an unknown reason. Should this occur, the elections official will check the county's official registration records after Election Day.

If the voter was properly registered to vote in the county and in the precinct in which they voted, their provisional ballot will be counted.

If the voter was registered to vote at another address in the county, their votes will be counted in the races they voted on as if they were voting in their home precinct i.

President, statewide, and countywide measures will be counted, but their votes in a city council race may not be counted if the precinct they're registered in is in a different city council district than the one in which they cast a ballot. If the voter is not registered to vote or is registered to vote in another county or state, their ballot will not be counted in part or in whole. Elections Code section c 3. Free Access System The Help America Vote Act of HAVA requires each state or local elections official to establish a "Free Access System," such as a toll-free telephone number for voters to call or an Internet website that voters can access free of charge, to ascertain if they voted a provisional ballot at the polls, whether or not their vote was counted, and, if it was not counted, the reason why it was not counted.

Call Us The voter will receive a Help Referral Form explaining the reason for the referral to the Help Station. An election official at the Help Station will help the voter complete a Provisional Voting Application and provide a provisional ballot and envelope.

Then, the voter will complete the ballot in private, seal the ballot in the envelope and return the envelope to the Help Station. The voter can use this, along with their date of birth, to check the status of their provisional ballot. This status will not be available earlier than 10 days after the date of the election.

The election official will also inform the voter, if applicable, of any additional steps the voter must take to ensure their ballot counts. All provisional envelopes are returned to a county board of elections.

For example, if a voter does not appear on the pollbook but claims to have registered, elections officials will research to see if there was a registration attempt. If that occurs, the voter will be directed to the help desk. Once at the help desk, the voter should find out the problem with their registration, to the extent they are able.

If the problem is out-of-precinct voting meaning the voter is in the right county, but the wrong precinct the voter has the choice between voting a provisional ballot at the polling place where they are, or going to their own precinct where they will be able to vote a regular ballot. Regardless of the issue, the voter should be offered a provisional ballot to vote. Then, the form and the ballot will be placed in a sealed envelope and sent to the Board of Elections for review after the election.

For instance, Maine and Oregon, which had higher distribution rates, effectively rejected no provisional ballots in ; whereas California, which had a low distribution rate, had the highest rejection rate in the country, rejecting approximately 14 percent of all provisional ballots cast. It stands to reason that having a fail-safe mechanism to protect voters against registration errors is a positive provision of election administration. Presumably, the 1. However, some voting rights advocates have argued that the availability of provisional ballots makes it too easy for local jurisdictions to shirk their efforts to maintain accurate voter lists.

Processing provisional ballots is subject to clerical errors, so there is at least a small chance that any provisional ballot that should be counted will be rejected for reasons unrelated to whether someone was actually registered. Furthermore, a provisional ballot given to a registered voter who has shown up in the wrong precinct will usually not be counted at all. Finally, because provisional ballots are processed after elections, they are one form of ballot absentee ballots being the other that can become the target of litigation in the event of a recount.

In states with a large number of provisional ballots, even if the rejection rate is typically low, the existence of provisional ballots becomes an easy target of controversy during a recount.

Foley, Edward B. Hanmer, Michael J. Barry C. New York: Cambridge University Press, 91— Kimball, David C. Pew Center on the States. Main navigation Research Data Find an Expert.