You are a registered voter and you are not at your assigned polling place. It happened again in California this month, when a printing error left 119,000 names off the voting rosters in LA County, forcing some voters to use provisional ballots. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. They will also provide a pen. Nikki Charlson, deputy administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections confirmed that ballots are valid with any pen color or pencil. The first method on the left is labeled Absentee and depicts a voterâs hand holding a pen as he fills out an absentee ballot application. There were early morning issues at two polling places, AP reported, but they were later resolved. The voter sits at the available chair across from the provisional judge. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. Provisional ballot rules. Narrator: The provisional judge will examine your VAC. A VAC tells the provisional judge why you are voting provisionally. For the primary, the type of ballot the voter chooses needs to match the political party they chose in part one of the application. A voter approaches the election judgeâs table. You’ll need to fill in your first name, last name, date of birth, and ZIP code to search. A green arrow points to this section. And a ballot scanner at Medfield Heights Elementary wasn’t working right, the Baltimore Sun reported. [A close up of the voterâs completed ballot application with attached envelope is displayed on the left and the voterâs completed ballot on the right. Here's how to know if your ballot's counted. According to the State Board of Elections, you won’t be able to find out if your vote was counted until 10 days after the election. Narrator: The provisional judge will then take your spoiled ballot and securely store it, because every ballot spoiled, voted and unvoted must be accounted for. Narrator: How will you know if your vote counted? Many of these people’s updates were never actually sent on to the Maryland State Board of Elections. The judge hands the voter the provisional privacy sleeve and a pen.]. If your provisional ballot isn’t counted, the website will tell you why. The election judge that escorted the voter hands the provisional judge the voter’s provisional privacy sleeve before leaving the table.] A provisional ballot is cast by a voter whose eligibility to vote cannot be proven at the polls on Election Day. A provisional ballot will be counted if the local board of elections is able to verify that the provisional voter is registered and eligible to vote in Maryland. In bold, there are the words Do Not Issue Regular Ballot. Narrator: The provisional voting process, an overview. This isn’t the first time in an election that provisional ballots have caused some controversy. Usually, the majority of provisional ballots are counted. Narrator: They will then print a voter authority card or VAC for short that you will sign and they will hand you an orange provisional privacy sleeve. Narrator: Some will go to an early voting center during early voting or a polling place on election day. Here are a few of the reasons a voter may have to vote provisionally. It’s a slow process to count them, and they’re only counted once it’s verified that the provisional voter is registered and eligible to vote in Maryland. They were a huge issue for many voters during the 2016 primaries. The voter returns to the privacy booth to mark their ballot. [As the voter marks the ballot, an image of a ballot scanner appears and an x is drawn through the scanner to indicate that it is not used to scan provisional ballots.]. Getty Many Maryland voters are casting provisional ballots today. Narrator: Then the provisional judge will instruct you to drop it into the orange provisional bag. Then, the judge places an unvoted ballot into the voterâs provisional privacy sleeve and returns the privacy sleeve to the voter. [The provisional judge takes one provisional ballot application from a stack on the table. [A provisional ballot application is displayed with the text of words spoken by the narrator. A provisional ballot is not an alternative to the electronic voting system. There were also a few last-minute voting location changes that confused some voters. A close up view of the signed VAC is displayed. The election judge begins to explain the process to her.]. [Title: Maryland State Board of Elections. As of Nov. 1, a total of 853,014 voters had cast ballots at early voting sites, according to data from the Maryland State Board of Elections. Heads up Maryland itâs that time again. Another election judge approaches the table, takes the provisional privacy sleeve from the voter and examines the VAC to verify that the voter is a provisional voter. If, after the election, administrators determine that the voter who cast the provisional ballot was eligible to vote, the ballot will be counted as a regular ballot. Early voting locations are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Use the contact information at the bottom back page of the application instructions. Local election boards are required by law to begin counting the provisional ballots around July 5, The Baltimore Sun reported. Up to 80,000 people in Maryland may have to file provisional ballots during today’s primary elections because of a system glitch. Maryland offers a tool to look up information about your voter registration and ballot status here. Narrator: While marking your ballot, if you make a mistake, the provisional judge will tell you to over-vote the ballot, which means filling in every contest. [A close up of a ballot is displayed. An election judge is standing near the ballot scanner and when she approaches, he takes a VAC, also known as a voter authority card, from a pocket attached to the voterâs ballot privacy sleeve. 151 West Street, Suite 200, Annapolis, MD 21401, (410) 269-2840 / (800) 222-8683 / info.sbe@maryland.gov. Voter Authority Card, Presidential General Election 2016. However, their eligibility needs to be reviewed by the local election board. A close up of the back of the provisional ballot application is displayed. You moved more than twenty-one days before the election and didnât notify election officials. Back in June 2016, there was some question as to whether provisional ballots might flip California from Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders (they didn’t.) You can check to see if your vote counted approximately ten days after election day. Reason Code 2. Narrator: Letâs take a quick look at the process. Affected voters will be directed to a provisional voting table, where they’ll fill out a form and then be given a ballot by an election judge. But if you want to make sure that yours is indeed counted, there’s a way to do that. This could affect the outcome of a race that’s very close. The second method, labeled Scanning Unit, depicts a woman at a polling place inserting a ballot into the ballot scanner. You must have passed the Maryland driver skills test to obtain a provisional license. [The provisional judge picks up the orange provisional bag as the voter removes her sealed ballot envelope from the provisional privacy sleeve. The scene shifts to the voter getting up and returning to the provisional voting area with her spoiled ballot. A provisional ballot allows someone who thinks he or she is an eligible voter to vote. [The provisional judge removes the VAC from the provisional privacy sleeveâs pocket. Narrator: Next, you will escorted to an area where you can vote the ballot in private. Many Maryland voters are casting provisional ballots today. They speak briefly and the election judge uses a stylus to tap the screen of the electronic pollbook in order to enter the voterâs information. Antonio R. Villaraigosa, a Democratic candidate for governor, had asked to keep the polls open until Friday because of the error, before conceding the race. [An election judge is sitting at a table ready to begin the voter check-in process. [The provisional judge tears off the instructions page from the voterâs provisional ballot application and hands the instructions to the voter.]. [There is a close up of a voter holding a pen as they begin to fill out an absentee ballot application.]. Massachusetts In Massachusetts, if you haven’t sent back your mail-in ballot or if you learn it has been rejected, you can vote in-person during early voting or on Election Day. Provisional ballots are meant to make sure that voters are not excluded from the voting process because of an administrative error or easily corrected oversight. The voter sits in the chair and takes her spoiled ballot from the privacy sleeve and hands it to the provisional judge.]. Narrator: So what is provisional voting? Part three is the area where the voter will sign the application. [The provisional judge places the spoiled ballot into an envelope to secure the ballot. Although verified provisional ballots are ultimately counted, the issue for some voters is that they aren’t counted on election night, and they require more scrutiny before they’re counted. Narrator: Once youâve completed the application, the provisional judge will place a ballot inside your orange provisional privacy sleeve. Part two is a section asking which election the voter is voting in and in the case of the primary, which ballot they choose to vote. In the background, the voter is signing the VAC. [A VAC prints from the electronic pollbookâs printer and the election judge removes the VAC once this process is finished. Once you enter the polling place, you will check in with an election judge. You also agree to our Terms of Service. By clicking “I agree” below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. Instead, those voters will be asked to fill out a provisional ballot, an instruction that sometimes surprises, angers or confuses people halted at the voting center check-in table. [A new voter approaches the election judgeâs table. Other issues also affected Maryland’s primary today. We rely on readers like you to uphold a free press. The judge holds the narrow open end of the bag and angles it towards the voter and the voter drops her sealed ballot envelope into the orange provisional bag. Filling out a provisional ballot ensures that you have the opportunity to cast a ballot until questions around your eligibility are resolved. The provisional ballot judgeâs table has stacks of blank provisional ballot applications, unvoted ballots, pens, and storage envelopes. After sealing her envelope, the voter returns to the provisional ballot judge.]. [There is a close up of the application page that the voter must complete. The document has three sections, one labeled Election Judge, the second labeled Election Director and the third labeled Board Action. A provisional license is the next stage of the Rookie Driver graduated licensing system process. See our, Read a limited number of articles each month, You consent to the use of cookies and tracking by us and third parties to provide you with personalized ads, Unlimited access to washingtonpost.com on any device, Unlimited access to all Washington Post apps, No on-site advertising or third-party ad tracking. The voter sits at the available chair across from the provisional judge. If the local board of elections determines that the provisional voter is registered and eligible to vote in Maryland and vote a provisional ballot, the ballot will be counted. You’ll need your name, date of birth and ZIP code.