Election administration

In politics, “ballot box stuffing” is a term that refers to the practice of illegally submitting more than one vote in a ballot in which just one vote is actually permitted. The goal is ballot box stuffing is to rig …

Ranked-choice voting is an alternative to plurality elections —  which are when whoever receives the most votes wins, even if they don’t earn a majority of all votes.

Bangor Daily News: “Voters can rank as many of the candidates …

A firehouse primary is a candidate nominating contest funded and overseen by a local party organization rather than public election officials.

A standard primary is operated by county and state election officials who are not affiliated with any party. Firehouse …

A “by-election” is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections.

It’s also frequently referred to as a special election.

Typically, a by-election occurs when the incumbent has resigned or died, but …

“Dummymander” is a play on the term “gerrymander,” and it refers to a redrawing of a district map that actually ends up benefiting the opposite party that was designed to help.

When a political party in power reshapes …

A jungle primary is an election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party.

It’s also known as the “blanket primary,” “open primary” or “top two primary,” since …

The Election Administrator’s Prayer is “Please, please, please let the winners win big.” or “Lord, let this election not be close.”

Doug Lewis, Executive Director of the National Association of Election Officials, was quoted by USA Today using another variation …

Petitioning is a phase in a campaign where organizers collect signatures to put a candidate’s name on the ballot.

How many signatures are needed depends on the jurisdiction and the office sought; some states allow candidates to pay a fee …

An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable to visit the official polling place on Election Day.

This type of vote is normally submitted by mail.

Increasing the ease of access to absentee ballots are seen …

An “open primary” is an election that allows voters to select candidates on one party’s ballot without declaring their own party affiliation.

It’s not to be confused with a blanket primary or jungle primary, in which all candidates appear …

A blanket primary is a primary election whereby each voter can select one candidate per office regardless of party. This primary is different from open or closed primaries, which require each ballot to only feature votes for candidates from …

A motor voter refers to the process of allowing a citizen to register to vote when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 made the process mandatory across the country beginning in 1995.…