Undervote

An undervote refers to a ballot in which a contest is left without a valid vote for any candidate or option. It is the opposite of an overvote, where a ballot contains more selections than the rules allow. Undervotes occur when a voter chooses not to vote in a contest, whether by omission or by insufficient marking.

Causes of undervotes can include voter indecision, ballot design or complexity, unfamiliarity with candidates or measures, accessibility barriers, voter fatigue, or simple mistakes during the marking process. Long ballots or confusing layouts are common contributors.

In official tallies, undervotes are not counted toward any candidate in the contested race. The ballot may still be included in turnout statistics, but it yields no vote in that contest. Undervotes are typically reported as a rate or percentage of ballots that failed to select a candidate in a given contest.

Impact of undervotes varies. In most elections, they do not alter the outcome directly. However, unusually high undervote rates in a contest can signal ballot design problems, polling place issues, or voter confusion, and may prompt review or reform of ballot layout and instructions.

Efforts to reduce undervotes include clearer voting instructions, simpler and more consistent ballot design, improved accessibility, better voter education, and testing of ballots before elections. Jurisdictions may publish undervote statistics to monitor ballot quality and to inform future improvements.