Provisional ballots offer promise, peril

Associated Press    21 August 2004

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of Americans will vote in November using a special kind of ballot that must be counted by hand.

That could leave the outcome of the presidential election in doubt as elections officials argue over each vote.

Sound familiar?

Although it might stir memories of hanging and pregnant chads from the 2000 election, the “provisional ballot” is a new national voting requirement meant to ensure that no voter is turned away. For the first time, provisional ballots will be available at precincts nationwide for those who can't find their names listed at the polls.

Yet, less than three months before what looks to be another extremely close presidential election, states don't agree about how to count these ballots. Some localities are worried they won't have time to tally them, and voting-rights advocates fear that many won't be counted at all.

“They do have the potential to be the chad of 2004,” said Doug Chapin, director of the Election Reform Information Project, a nonpartisan group that studies elections. “Given that you have to basically ascertain the validity of a ballot, ballot by ballot, you open yourself up to the same kind of high-stakes politicization of the process we saw in Florida in 2000.”

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 mandated provisional ballots. The idea was to prevent properly registered voters from being turned away from the polls because of clerical errors with registration lists or other problems. Civil rights groups estimate that happened to 1.5 million or more voters in 2000.

Under the new law, anyone who claims to be registered in the jurisdiction where they try to vote but whose name is not listed must be given a provisional ballot. If the voter's registration information is verified later, the ballot is included in the total for the election.

Kansas has used provisional ballots since 1975.

“Every election cycle, there is a race somewhere in the state of Kansas decided by provisional ballots,” said Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh.

States including Missouri, Florida, Illinois and Indiana, don't count a provisional ballot unless the voter is in the right precinct. Missouri Democrats have challenged the rule.