TALLAHASSEE - Nearly two-thirds of the provisional ballots cast in Florida on Election Day were not counted, mostly because the people who filled them out were not registered voters, officials said Monday.
County elections officials said 27,742 provisional ballots were cast, with 9,915 counted and 17,827 rejected. The numbers may be revised but are not expected to change dramatically, officials said.
Provisional ballots are used when poll workers cannot immediately confirm that a person wanting to vote is properly registered. They are counted if the voter's eligibility is established; otherwise, they are tossed out.
According to an analysis by the Tallahassee Democrat , slightly more than 7 percent of the provisional ballots cast Nov. 2 were tossed because voters had been purged from the rolls, either because they had not voted in the past two federal elections or were found to be felons whose right to vote had not been restored.
