Balloting — Election Security Glossary

Balloting covers the full lifecycle of a ballot: its design, its production, the way a voter marks it, the way it is cast, the way it is secured, and the way it is ultimately processed for tabulation. Each step in that lifecycle is a place where design decisions, accessibility considerations, and security controls come together.

Why this category matters for election security is that a ballot is the physical embodiment of voter intent. A misdesigned ballot can confuse voters and produce undervotes. An inaccessible ballot can deny equal participation. A ballot that is not properly secured between precinct and tabulation can be lost, damaged, or tampered with. The whole machinery of election administration exists to ensure that what voters marked is what gets counted.

Ballot design is a discipline in its own right. The principles of clear typography, intuitive layout, and consistent positioning of contests have been studied and codified. The use of color, the placement of instructions, the handling of write-in candidates, the treatment of overvotes and undervotes. These are not aesthetic choices. They are accessibility and accuracy choices, with security implications.

The terminology in this category covers the entire ballot lifecycle. The concepts here describe what happens between the moment a voter enters the booth and the moment a ballot is scanned for counting.