Provisional primer
Friday, October 15, 2004

Columbus Dispatch

What’s a provisional ballot ?

• Provisional ballots are offered to voters who move and don’t their registration in time for the election, or those who go to vote but do not appear on the rolls — even though they think they are registered.

• The ballots are held for 10 days while workers confirm whether voters are eligible. If so, the votes are counted and released with the official tally; if not, they are discarded.

Why a provisional ?

Reasons why voters may not appear on the rolls and need a provisional ballot:

• Administrative errors. Poll workers may overlook voters’ names or not match them up with a different spelling. Poll workers use printed lists of voters produced for each precinct. Staff members in the offices that produce these lists can make clerical errors.

• Poll workers may overlook a voter’s name on the precinct roster, or may not be aware that the voter is listed on a supplemental roster containing the names of voters who registered shortly before the election.

• Voters may have their names improperly removed from the voting rolls.

• Voters may appear at the wrong precinct because they did not receive_ or received but did not heed_ a notice that their polling place had moved.

• Motor-vehicle departments or social-service agencies that are supposed to make registration applications available may improperly handle the applications or fail to forward them to proper election officials in a timely manner.

• Voters may fail to notify their registrar, or fail to re-register, after a change of address.

• Well-intentioned organizations seeking to register voters may mishandle registration materials.