A photoessay of "Voter Intent Ballots" (5)

Stefan Sharkansky, November 11, 2005

When the voter fills in two ovals, but adds an additional mark next to one of the ovals, the canvassing board gets to have the most fun trying to guess what the voter had in mind.

Apparently, circling one of the names will be interpreted as selecting that choice.

Even though circling a name without filling in an oval was rejected:

Writing an arrow next to one choice was taken as a vote for that choice

Putting a blob next to one choice was also determined to be a vote for that choice

Putting an X next to one name was interpreted as the voter's way of the striking out the nearest choice:

An exception to the above rule was this ballot, where an X struck one choice, but was counted as an overvote for another:

One would think that if a circle and an arrow and a blob are determined to be affirmative marks, and an X is usually a negative mark, then a check mark might be an affirmative mark. Let's test this hypothesis on this ballot:

As if by augury, that was determined to be an overvote.

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