voter intent
What citizens meant
Voter intent is what a voter meant to express on a ballot, regardless of whether they marked it correctly.
The concept becomes crucial when ballots are ambiguous—a partially filled bubble, a stray mark, a hanging chad.
Election officials and courts must decide whether to count such ballots based on what the voter apparently intended: The recount focused on determining voter intent from improperly marked ballots.
The principle holds that technical errors shouldn't disenfranchise voters whose choices are reasonably clear.
- ballotVoting document
- ballot boxContainer for cast votes
- mail-in ballotVote submitted through post
- pollsOpinion surveys or voting sites
- castingShaping through liquid form
democracy · choice · election · turnout · civic · booth · secret ballot · swing · swing state · deciding · preference · will · mandate · franchise · electorate · counted · voice · representation
voter intentvoter suppression
Tactics discouraging ballot access
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