Why so many provisional ballots expected in Ohio?

[EC]

They are saying 200,000 on MSNBC, how come?

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Could it be from redistricting and changing precincts?

[kerouac2]

2. Husted sent out 7 million absentee ballots out just for kicks.

Supposed to be sent by request, but he decided to send them to everyone... which is something I've been pointing to for the past week as giving them a way to steal Ohio.

[thereismore]

3. Absentee ballot is not the same as provisional. What's going on? nt

[hack89]

5. It is to prevent voter fraud

If someone received an absentee ballot but went to vote in person that person would be given a provisional ballet to ensure they didn't vote twice.

[thereismore]

12. I understand. Thanks. nt

[UncleYoder]

4. actually,

Those were 7M absentee request forms. Lots of people sent them back in to get the ballot and then never filled them out. So when they show up at the polls, the only way they can vote is via a provisional ballot.

[kerouac2]

10. Yes, request forms. Sorry... but result is the same in close election.

But the result was the same in the sense that he has this huge amount of potential votes hanging out there that can't be counted until 11/17. I had read that R's request absentee ballots more often than D's, so this could have stacked the deck R's favor by several points among those provisional ballots.

[LisaL]

8. Not ballots. Application forms.

Some people filled them out, got their absentee ballots but apparently didn't use them?
They could still turn them into board of elections today rather than voting provisional.

[CincyDem]

9. Absentee vs. Provisional in Ohio

I think the issue started with those 7 million unrequested absentee ballot request forms. Typically (at least in past elections) you had to go find a request form...I think DMV, libraries, boards of election. This year - they just showed up.

A lot of people filled it out, not realizing what it was. Once that request was received and recorded, those folks are now slated to vote absentee.

The problem comes when they don't vote absentee, usually becuase that's not what they planned to do in the first place, and then show up at the polling place. On the voting page it lists that they have been sent absentee ballots. If you sign an affidavit that you didn't vote absentee, you can vote but it will be a provisional ballot.

The twist Husted added last week was that, contrary to Ohio statute, he has distributed provisional ballot forms with the instruction that the voter is responsible for the correctness of the ID information AND correctly indicating which ID was used on the form. By law, that is an obligation of the board of elections (in the person of the poll workers) so there are a lot of challenges floating around.

As I understand it, Ohio will not start counting provisionals until 11/17 by which time they will be able to confirm that you didn't vote absentee and, technically, they can then count your provisional. Court challenges should be resolved by the 17th regarding the caliber of the information on the provisional request.

If we're lucky - none of this will matter and the Ohio results will only be the difference between something like 330 vs 348. Important in knowing the final number but not important in the overall results.

[justabob]

6. isn't it because they "lost" voter reg info for thousands of people

in a "computer glitch"?

[hack89]

7. It is to prevent voter fraud.

Ohio mailed out millions of absentee ballot applications. If someone received an absentee ballot but went to vote in person that person would be given a provisional ballot to ensure they didn't vote twice.

[HopeHoops]

11. So the news outlets have something to do for the next week.

[LeftinOH]

13. It's to make voting more confusing than it should be. I saw

several people (here in OH) at the polling place this morning with provisional forms; people who have lived in this neighborhood at least as long as I have. Confusion reigned; the aged and befuddled volunteers had no idea what those forms were for. The whole purpose is to make already-bewildering process even more complex.