How to check if your provisional ballot was counted

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — For those who cast provisional ballots on Election Day, they may be left wondering if their vote counted. Here's how to find answers.

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires state and local election officials to give the person casting a provisional ballot information on how they can find out if their vote was counted or not, as well as the reason why it was not counted if that is the case.

In Tennessee, the Voter Registration Lookup tool on the Tennessee Secretary of State's website includes a way to find out if a provisional or absentee ballot was counted, according to VOTE.org . There is also a national hotline established that can help those who casted provisional ballots find out if their vote has been counted. The number for that hotline is 866-OUR-VOTE or 866-687-8683.

On Tuesday, the Knox County Election Commission counted the provisional ballots that were cast on November 5. There are several reasons someone may cast a provisional ballot, according to Election Commission administrator Chris Davis.

"I think some people show up and they wonder, 'was my vote counted?' And particularly when you get into a situation where maybe I requested an absentee ballot, and I didn't get one or, 'maybe I'm registered, maybe I'm not.' We want to make sure and at least give everybody that bite at the apple and then the provisional process is for those people that we can't determine if they're 100% bona fide registered voters," Davis explained. "It gives those voters one last opportunity to make sure that a vote can count if it legally can count. That's what these votes do."

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He also shared that in some cases, someone may have come to the poll without a photo ID. In Tennessee, those in such a situation have two days after the election to return to their local election commission's office and present their photo ID for their vote to be counted.

So how do you find out if your vote counted? Davis said no news is good news.

"What I would tell the voters is if you cast a provisional ballot and you don't get anything from us, it counted. And I would say after the election, you know. Christmas New Year-ish, when we've done all the records and everything put to bed, any voter can request a copy of his or her voter history by just calling us. We're glad to send it to him," Davis said.

For those whose provisional ballots are not counted, Davis said the election commission will send them a letter stating that their provisional ballot was not counted and why it was not counted.

In Knox County, Davis said there were 661 provisional ballots cast in the November 5 election, and traditionally about half of the provisional ballots cast are counted.

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