Social:Undervote
An undervote occurs when the number of distinct choices selected by a voter in a contest is less than the maximum number allowed for a contest or when no selection is made for a particular election.[1] Undervotes can be intentional or unintentional.[2] An undervote can be intentional for purposes including protest votes, tactical voting, or abstention. In a contested election, an undervote can be construed as active voter disaffection: a voter engaged enough to cast a vote without the willingness to give the vote to any candidate.[2] Undervotes can also occur if a voter casting a ballot does not make choices in all available contests. An example is if, during a presidential election, a voter chooses a presidential candidate but does not select a candidate for a concurrently running election for county commissioner.[3]
Alternately, undervotes can be unintentional and caused by many factors including poor ballot design. Undervotes caused by voting for a single candidate in multiple positions is usually caused by a voter's misunderstanding of the mechanics of the preference ballot.[4][2]
Undervotes combined with overvotes (known as residual votes) can be an academic indicator in evaluating the accuracy of a voting system when recording voter intent.[4]
References
- ↑ "2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines". Election Assistance Commission. p. A-18. http://www.eac.gov/voting%20systems/docs/vvsgvolumei.pdf/attachment_download/file.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "WNT: Explaining the Undervotes". ABC News. 30 November 2000. https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131406.
- ↑ Bump, Philip (14 December 2016). "1.7 million people in 33 states and DC cast a ballot without voting in the presidential race". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/14/1-7-million-people-in-33-states-and-dc-cast-a-ballot-without-voting-in-the-presidential-race/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alvarez, R. Michael; Katz, Jonathan N.; Hill, Jonathan N. (September 20, 2005). "Machines Versus Humans: The Counting and Recounting of Pre-scored Punchcard Ballots". Caltech/ MIT Voting Technology Project. http://www.vote.caltech.edu/sites/default/files/vtp_wp32.pdf.
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