Legal Definitions - excess vote

An excess vote refers to a ballot, or a portion of a ballot, that contains more selections than legally permitted for a particular office or issue. It can also describe a situation where more votes are cast or found than are authorized or registered, leading to the invalidation of the extra votes or, in some cases, the entire ballot for that specific contest.

• Example 1: Over-marking a Ballot

  Imagine a ballot for a state senate race where voters are instructed to choose only one candidate. A voter, perhaps confused or in a hurry, marks their ballot by selecting two different candidates for the same senate seat. In this scenario, the vote for the state senate race would be considered an excess vote. While other selections on the same ballot (e.g., for governor or local propositions) might still be valid and counted, the specific vote for the state senate would be invalidated because the voter exceeded the allowed number of choices for that particular contest.

• Example 2: Discrepancy in Ballot Count

  Consider a small town election where 300 voters are officially registered and have checked in at a polling station. When the ballot box is opened for counting, election officials discover 305 physical ballots inside. The five additional ballots represent excess votes. Since there are more ballots than the number of eligible voters who checked in, these extra votes cannot be legitimately attributed to a registered voter and would typically be set aside or subject to specific legal procedures to reconcile the discrepancy, ensuring that only valid votes are counted.

• Example 3: Duplicate Online Submission

  In an online voting system for a corporate board election, a technical error allows one shareholder to successfully submit their vote twice before the system's security protocols detect and correct the anomaly. The second submission from that shareholder would be an excess vote. Even if the shareholder only intended to vote once, the system recorded an extra vote beyond the permissible one vote per shareholder. During the tabulation process, this duplicate vote would be identified and removed to maintain the integrity of the election and ensure each shareholder's vote is counted only once.