Official Ballot
Official Ballot: The official presentation of all of the contests to be decided in a particular election.
Definition
The official presentation of all of the contests to be decided in a particular election. Either in paper or electronic format, the mechanism for voters to show their voter preferences.
Alternative Definitions
- Definition 2
A ballot “distributed by the election officer to the election judges to be given to voters to record their votes.” Utah Code §20A-1-102(41). The “list of offices and candidates and the statements of measures appropriate for use with that system in combination with the device upon which a vote is registered is an offi cial ballot.” Nev. Rev. Stat. §293B.175. The “material displaying the names of the candidate s nominated and a statement of the questions submitted.” N. J. Stat. Ann. §19:47-1. Unfortunately, the term is quite troublesome since it conflates at several separate notions: (1) the list of candidates officially running in the election; (2) the document or screen on which the voter indicates choices; and (3) the evidentiary r ecord from which the ultimate tally is made. In some jurisdictions requiring a VVPAT, it is unclear what the official ballot is, if there is any at all. Some statutes provide that the elect ronic record governs, but that if there is any inconsistency with the paper record, the paper r ecord is the official ballot. In Nevada, the paper record must be “printed and serve as an official record for a recount, as necessary.” Nevada Rev. Stat. §293B.084(2)(b). Thus Nevada appears to distinguish between an “official ballot” and an “official record.”