Discussion
After the polls close, the election outcome is generally determined, and it’s just a matter of letting the count proceed and waiting for the results. But one exception is provisional ballots, where campaigns continue their GOTV efforts to encourage those who voted that way to cure their ballots before the deadline.
Mississippi’s senate seat is likely to be decided by provisional ballots this year, so we’re seeing a lot of this activity now.
@gerg thanks for the information. I’ll let everyone know.
@mattblaze @gerg The biggest problem with American democracy is our silly notion of ensuring every vote is counted.
@mattblaze
Yes! And the NAACP is all over this. I was asking people this morning to please donate to them, if possible, to help them on the front lines.
“GOTV” = “Get Out The Vote”
And “cured” here means following the process for fixing whatever prevented the voter from being allowed to cast a regular ballot. So it’s “cured” as in curing an illness, not curing epoxy.
@mattblaze can’t believe you went with epoxy and not bacon.
@mattblaze is this particular to Mississippi? In PA a provisional ballot is sent to the county for determination.
@dexter Whether the voter has to take action depends on the reason the ballot is provisional. MS has pretty strict ID requirements, and many of the provisional ballots are people who need to go back and show acceptable ID.
@mattblaze Thank you for these details.
@mattblaze are the provisional ballots opened and counted or do they just sit in sealed envelopes, basically as a precommitment to a specific vote?
Also, doesn't this allow the voter a form of asymmetric information and power in their decision making that is usually frowned upon? I.e. couldn't you theoretically construct a scenario where a single voter could decide the election outcome by either curing or not curing their vote strategically?
@sophieschmieg yes, each ballot stays sealed until cured. (They have to do it this way because the ballots themselves don’t identify the voter.)
@sophieschmieg And you’re right that this gives provisional voters more information than other voters have before deciding whether to commit their votes.
@mattblaze @sophieschmieg in New Zealand we have only one time zone. Too easy. By coincidence it's election day today
@mattblaze you know, the USA seems to have a totally fucked up democracy, looking at it from the outside. Seems to apply to all 'murrican election types, TBH