{"id":4488,"date":"2020-11-03T00:28:37","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T00:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=4488"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:37","slug":"cast-but-not-always-counted-what-are-provisional-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/03\/cast-but-not-always-counted-what-are-provisional-ballots\/","title":{"rendered":"Cast, but not always counted: What are provisional ballots?"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Michaela Towfighi and Kalley Huang<\/p>\n
When one of Gunther Peck\u2019s students told him that she had cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 election, he immediately worried.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018uh oh,\u2019 and then I checked it out afterwards,\u201d said the Duke history professor and voting rights activist. His search confirmed his fears. \u201cShe voted, and she had no voting history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Her provisional ballot was never accepted.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Like Peck\u2019s student, 1,084 Durhamites cast ballots that did not count in 2016, according to the <\/span>Durham County Board of Elections<\/span><\/a>. Some may still be under the impression that they participated in the election four years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe worst thing is, a lot of people don\u2019t even realize their vote didn\u2019t count,\u201d Peck said. \u201cThe pernicious part of it is that you\u2019d have to check your voter history after the fact to see that your vote didn\u2019t count.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Provisional ballots are cast when a poll worker is unable to verify a voter\u2019s eligibility when they check in at a polling place. It\u2019s like an entrance to a party where it\u2019s unclear whether or not you are on the guest list. Except in this case, the party is an election and getting in doesn\u2019t mean your vote counts. Provisional ballots are held aside until county election officials investigate to determine whether or not the people who cast them are eligible to vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Provisionals are more likely to be cast on Election Day, according to Patrick Gannon, a North Carolina State Board of Elections spokesperson. In the early in-person voting period, voters are able to register and cast a ballot on the same day. This process is called one-stop voting.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, on Election Day, if a voter is not registered with their name in the county poll book, a directory that tracks registered voters, they are presented with a provisional ballot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the North Carolina Central University polling site, only 26 of the 91 provisional ballots cast in 2016 were counted in whole or in part \u2014 overall, less than 30%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Statewide, over 90% of provisional ballots cast in 2016 were counted in whole or in part.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s absurd,\u201d Peck said. \u201cPeople waited hours to cast those provisional ballots. The wait time in 2016 was four and a half hours because everybody was casting provisional ballots. The line was melting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He attributed the \u201chorrific\u201d throw rate to a \u201cperfect storm\u201d \u2014 a partisan fight over counting students\u2019 provisionals, lower voter enthusiasm leading to last-minute decisions to vote, poll workers not informing voters to vote at their assigned precinct, and students being confused about how to register and where to vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n N.C. Central has an early vote site that also serves as an Election Day precinct. All students can vote early there, but only on-campus residents may vote there on Election Day \u2014 a complex distinction that may have driven up the rate at which provisional ballots were cast and thrown out.<\/span><\/p>\n Reasons for Provisional Voting\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n The North Carolina State Board of Elections gives a provisional ballot when a voter has no record of registration. Voters may also receive a provisional ballot if they do not have an acceptable form of ID, don\u2019t have a recognized address, are at the incorrect voting precinct, or have already voted according to records.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If a voter\u2019s registration is removed from the county poll book, they are also presented with a provisional ballot. A voter\u2019s registration can be canceled if they moved within the state, were convicted of a felony or were accidentally removed when lists were updated, among other reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n