Cure ballot? Voters in Nevada and other states can still correct voting errors

On By Pranco

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Ballots cannot become diseased, but after an election many voters need to “cure” their ballots to ensure they are counted. If you voted by absentee or provisional ballot, election officials will inspect it to make sure it contains all the necessary information — and often find that it doesn’t.

For example, a state elections official may discover that the signature on an absentee ballot does not match the signature the elections office has on file. A voter who comes to the polls without the correct photo ID may fill out a provisional ballot that will not be counted until you present the correct ID to the elections office.

In the closely watched swing state of Nevada, there were nearly 14,000 ballots requiring signature processing on the Monday before the election, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office said. In the county surrounding Albequerque, New Mexico, hundreds of ballots were rejected, according to the BBC a local news station.

“It is critical that voters are aware of the potential need to recover their ballots to ensure their voices are heard and votes are counted,” Aguilar said in a news release. “This is especially important for young voters who may not have a practiced signature, or for older voters whose signatures have changed over time.”

Ahtar Hassebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, told USA TODAY Nov. 5 that he expected the number of ballots needed to settle the case would drop. “Everyone is working to reduce the numbers,” he said. “It’s just part of the process here.”

There were a total of 9,956 ballots pending approval in Nevada on Monday, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Nationwide, approximately 550,000 absentee ballots were rejected during the 2022 congressional elections. Ballotpedia News. When states adopt policies that allow people to recover their absentee ballots, fewer ballots are rejected, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The good news is most states often offer the ability to repair or cure a ballot. This usually means that you must return to the elections office within a certain number of days to provide the necessary information.

Election offices often contact voters to inform them of the need to cure, but that may not happen, meaning voters may have to take action themselves to ensure their ballots are counted. Here’s a look at situations where voters may need to cast their ballots.

Do I need to repair my ballot?

If you are voting in a state that requires a voter ID and you were unable to show it at the polls, you may have been given the option to vote using a provisional ballot, a type of ballot that is kept separate from the rest of the votes while election officials decide whether to count. These voters will likely need to return with proper identification to recover their ballots.

If your state does signature verification — where the signature on a ballot matches another signature the elections office has on file — your ballot may be rejected. If that happens, you may need to return to the election office to recover your absentee ballot so your vote can be counted.

How long do I have to cure my ballot?

State laws vary depending on how much time voters have to recover their ballot. Here are the deadlines in some states where voters still have time to recover their ballots from the Nov. 5 presidential election.

  • In Nevada, absentee ballots must be recovered by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12, the Secretary of State’s office said.
  • In Texas, voters who have an acceptable photo ID but did not show it at the polls have until six days after the election to present an acceptable photo ID to their county’s voter registration office, the office said from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
  • In ColoradoAccording to the Secretary of State, voters have until the end of the night on the eighth day after the election to correct their ballot paper.

Is it too late to cure my ballot?

Voter processing deadlines have passed in many states. Among the states:

Contributors: Terry Collins.