Provisional ballots can be offered to voters as a temporary measure when a voter's eligibility cannot be immediately verified or when a voter is omitted from the poll books.
November 05, 2025
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procedural
Provisional ballots allow voters to cast a ballot pending later verification of their eligibility.
Sixteen U.S. states accept and will count a mail-in ballot that arrives after Election Day if the ballot is postmarked on or before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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statistical
Scope of state policies that allow counting of late-arriving mail-in ballots when timely postmarked.
Mississippi state law permits absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to five days after Election Day; the measure was adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and later made permanent.
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procedural
Example of a state-level rule that creates a multi-day receipt period for counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day.