No Vote

Definition

The failure of a voter to have a vote recorded for an office or question on which she was entitled to vote. A pure “no vote” results when no attempt to vote is recorded, in which case it is not known whether the voter voluntarily chose not to vote or did not follow instructions. Some jurisdictions consider an overvote to be a no vote because the result is the same, namely invalidation of the vote in the relevant office. In some cases, a voting position is designated as a “no vote” so the voter may positively indicate an intention not to vote. Also DROP VOTE.