Residual Vote
Residual Vote: Vote that could not be allocated to a specific contest option due to an undervote or overvote.
Definition
Vote that could not be allocated to a specific contest option due to an undervote or overvote.
Alternative Definitions
- Definition 2
A vote that could have been cast by a voter but was not validly cast, for whatever reason. Residual votes are caused by (1) the deliberate choice not to vote; (2) overvoting, resulting in a vote not being counted; (3) voter inadvertence resu lting in failure to cast a vote; and (4) failure of the voting system to record a vote. It is equal to the sum UNCOUNTED BALLOTS + UNMARKED BALLOTS + OVERVOTES for a particular office. In Mississippi, “‘residual votes’ means overvotes, undervotes and any other vote not counted for any reason. Miss. Code §25- 15-613(1). The same statute requires reporting of residual votes for any voting system that does not produce a ballot.