PHOENIX – More than 200 counties in about 25 states rejected every provisional ballot cast during the 2014 general election, according to a News21 analysis of data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Most of the counties were small, with an average of 21,897 registered voters. And voters in those counties didn’t submit many provisional ballots.
Gillespie County, Texas, had the highest volume of provisional ballots with 0.9 percent of the total ballots cast. But many counties show “0.0 percent” of ballots cast provisionally, according to the data.
The counties listed on the map below had at least one provisional ballot submitted, but for many counties, provisional ballots made up less than 0.01 percent of their total ballots cast.
Voters often cast provisional ballots if they believe they are eligible to vote, but run into problems at the polls. For example, their name doesn’t appear on the registration list, they have an outdated address or they did not bring proper ID with them.
– Reporter Sean Holstege contributed to this report.
Andrew Clark is an Ethics and Excellence fellow. Follow him on Twitter @Clarky_Tweets.
