Provisional Balloting

Millions of voters were estimated to have been denied their right to vote in the 2000 election. Bad voter lists were the source of many of these election problems. To remedy this problem, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires states to offer provisional ballots to all voters who claim to be registered to vote but whose name does not appear on the rolls at the polling place, whose eligibility is challenged, or who cannot meet federal identification requirements. Such ballots are counted if elections officials subsequently determine that the individual was a legitimate voter under state law.

Provisional balloting can and does work in states that have adopted fair standards for the counting of provisional ballots. Unfortunately, many states have taken advantage of HAVA's vague language to craft unnecessarily stringent standards for validating provisional ballots. Like patients leaving the hospital with a placebo, strict standards lead voters to believe they are casting a meaningful ballot when in fact their vote may never be counted.

Demos Resources

A Fallible 'Fail-Safe' An Analysis of Provisional Balloting Problems in the 2006 Election November 20, 2007

Challenges to Fair Elections 2 Provisional Ballots October 17, 2006 Much like patients sent home with a placebo, many provisional voters think they are being given the vote, when in fact they are receiving a false promise.

Continuing Failures in "Fail-Safe" Voting A Preliminary Analysis of Provisional Voting Problems December 7, 2004 In this preliminary analysis, Demos finds that the right to provisional ballots was violated nationwide on November 2, 2004. Available evidence suggests that Congress and the states must revisit provisional ballot statutes, regulations, and procedures if the original "failsafe" voting mandate is to be fully realized.

Placebo Ballots Will "Fail-Safe" Provisional Voting Fail? October 28, 2004 Demos' Ari Weisbard examines the practice of provisional balloting after the implementation of the Help America Vote Act.

• Provisional Ballot Verification Rules - a state-by-state guide from electionline.org
   - August 2, 2006
• Best Practices to Improve Provisional Voting - a set of recommendations to the EAC from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University
   - June 28, 2006
• Are HAVA's Provisional Ballots Working? - an analysis of provisional balloting in the 2004 election written by Wendy R. Weisler, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice
   - March 29, 2006
• Summary of Litigation Concerning Provisional Ballots in the 2004 Elections - The Brennan Center for Justice's catalog of lawsuits
   - November 30, 2005
• Solution or Problem?: Provisional Balloting in 2004 - an electionline.org study that looks at the numbers state by state
   - April 2005