October 31, 2024

Provisional Ballots Checklist

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Is your office prepared for a potential surge in provisional ballot voters? As part of your resiliency planning, use this checklist to ensure your office is prepared.

Provisional ballots are required when voter eligibility cannot be determined at the polls. In many states, provisional ballots can also be issued to mitigate a number of problem scenarios ranging from pollbook outages to problems with mail-in voting to larger disruptions to operations.

Plan ahead. Hurricanes, foreign interference, registration errors, and mass challenges are all looming as potential Election Day disruptions that could cause a surge in provisional ballot submissions. Provisional ballots take time and resources to process. Delays or misunderstandings in provisional ballot reporting can introduce confusion and anxiety amongst voters and candidates.