Reply #19: National Election Survey Reveals 3.2 Million Uncounted Ballots in 2006 Elections -- UPDATED

[Melissa G]

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National Election Survey Reveals 3.2 Million Uncounted Ballots in 2006 Elections -- UPDATED


By Kim Zetter December 11, 2007 | 12:11:33 AMCategories: Election '08

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/12/national-electi.html

The federal Election Assistance Commission -- the agency created after the 2000 presidential debacle that is tasked with overseeing voting machine testing and serving as a clearinghouse for election administration information -- published a survey of the 2006 election today that reveals some interesting stats.

The information, collected from election administrators nationwide, covers the number of registered voters per jurisdiction, voter turnout, types of voting systems used, percentage of votes cast by absentee and provisional ballots, etc.

One interesting nugget concerns the number of ballots cast vs. ballots counted in the election.

According to the report, about 82 million ballots were "cast or counted" in the 2006 election (the number isn't exact because not every jurisdiction responded to the survey). But some 3.2 million ballots that were cast never got counted.

The report provides a table showing the number of ballots that went uncounted by state (see the middle column in the table at right). For example, in Florida 122,759 ballots went uncounted in 2006. In California, the number was 416,260 ballots. Illinois held the record, however, with a whopping 889,012 uncounted ballots.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/12/national-electi.html