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This article covers subjects specific to the 2020 general election. Information technology has not been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
Click hither for more information virtually our 2020 election coverage.


No. The deed of leaving 1 option blank on a election while filling out other options is commonly referred to every bit undervoting. For example, a voter that is permitted to bandage i vote for a presidential candidate and does not select a candidate, or a voter who has just cast 2 votes in a contest allowing three, has undervoted. Voters take the right to undervote if they choose to do so.

A ballot will non exist canceled or disqualified as the issue of an undervote. An undervote can be intentional (due east.g., protest votes, tactical voting, or abstention) or unintentional (e.g., oversight on the voter's part or confusing ballot design).[1] [2]

Undervoting does non directly affect candidate elections with a majority requirement to win. Undervoting can touch ballot measure results, however. In seven states, constitutional amendments must be approved past a certain percentage of all voters casting a ballot in the ballot, making the effect of a blank vote different. In states requiring majority approval from all ballots cast in the election, leaving the question blank is the aforementioned as voting confronting the measure. The threshold for approval varies from xxx% to a majority of all ballots cast in the election. Click here to read about how undervoting affects ballot measure out campaigns in those 7 states.

Next question: How and when are election results finalized?

The 2020 election took place against a backdrop of doubtfulness. Our readers had questions about what to wait in elections at all levels of government, from the casting of ballots to the certification of final results. Ballotpedia'due south 2020 Ballot Assist Desk was designed to answer those questions.

More frequently asked questions about the 2020 election

Click on a question below to read the respond:

  • General election information
    • Who runs elections in the United States?
    • Why do states have unlike ballot rules?
    • What methods practise states use to prevent election fraud?
    • Do you have to vote for everything on your ballot?
    • What happens if you mark outside the lines or use the wrong pen/pencil?
    • What is a spoiled ballot?
    • What is a write-in candidate?
    • How tin can I bank check the condition of my ballot?
    • Can I have a ballot selfie?
  • Presidential election
    • What happens if a presidential candidate declares victory in the 2020 election before results are final?
    • Tin presidential candidates win the election if they have already conceded?
    • What are the steps and deadlines for electing the President of the United States?
    • What happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College?
    • What are faithless electors in the Electoral College?
    • What happens if a presidential nominee becomes incapacitated before the election?
    • Tin members of Congress object to Balloter College results?
  • Processing and counting absentee/mail service-in ballots
    • What is the life cycle of an absentee/postal service-in ballot?
    • What happens if I vote by postal service and desire to change my ballot at a after date?
    • What happens if someone votes past postal service and then tries to vote in person?
    • How practice states protect and verify absentee/mail-in ballots?
    • How do ballot workers friction match signatures?
    • Are results reported on ballot nighttime coming from in-person or absentee/mail service-in votes?
    • Do states report how many postal service-in/absentee ballots are outstanding on election night?
    • Do absentee/mail-in ballots take longer to count than in-person ballots?
    • What happens if someone votes by mail-in ballot or absentee election and afterward passes away before Ballot Solar day?
  • Disputing election results
    • How will election recounts work?
    • How close does an ballot have to be to trigger an automatic recount?
    • Can a candidate or voter request a recount?
    • Who pays for recounts and contested elections?
    • What are poll watchers?
    • What does it hateful to challenge a voter'southward eligibility, and who tin can exercise it?
    • What is a redo election?
    • Who can file election-related lawsuits?
    • What are the reasons to telephone call a redo election?
    • Who tin call a redo election?
    • Can a redo be held for a presidential election?
  • Election result reporting and certification
    • What happens if candidates declare victory in the 2020 election earlier results are final?
    • Can candidates win an election if they have already conceded?
    • How and when are election results finalized?
    • How do major media outlets declare winners?
  • Transitions of ability and taking part
    • Who is the president if election results are unknown by January twenty, 2021?
    • Who serves in Congress if election results are unknown by January 2021?
    • Who serves in a state or local government if election results are unknown?
    • What happens if the winning presidential candidate becomes incapacitated earlier taking office?
  • Manufactures near potential scenarios in the 2020 election
  • U.Due south. Supreme Court deportment affecting the November 3, 2020, general ballot

Encounter also

  • Undervote
  • Overvote

Related manufactures

  • You Probably Should Make full In Your Whole Ballot When You Vote — Here's Why - Bustle, November 1, 2018
  • Yes, you may leave parts of ballot blank - Montana Standard, October 11, 2004

Footnotes

  1. ABC News, "WNT: Explaining the undervotes," November xxx, 2000
  2. The Washington Post, "i.seven million people in 33 states and D.C. cast a ballot without voting in the presidential race," December 14, 2016