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Glite Dictionary
🗳️ Too many choices 🗳️ To pick too many
overvote

overvote

2 8.1
A ballot with more marks than allowed that is not counted
  • noun
  • /ˈoʊvərˌvoʊt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : voto excesivo
  • The election officials counted the number of overvotes to determine the level of error in the voting process.
  • overvote ballots
  • count of overvote

Examples

  • The machine sees that as an overvote," Wichman said.

    Blog text (9)

  • I know there was an overvote scenario which was not on the table where Gore had a shot.

    Blog text (25)

  • That could include suits by smaller political parties that throwing away "overvotes" is unfair to them.

    Blog text (4)

  • It will be considered "spoiled," an "overvote."

    Blog text (19)

  • However, IIRC, the Florida Supreme Court required a manual count of overvotes as well.

    Blog text (25)

  • The 650 will reject ballots that are blank, or those in which there is an overvote," Wichman said.

    Blog text (9)

  • But the Florida Supreme Court mandated a manual count of both undervotes and overvotes.

    Blog text (25)

  • This resulted in an unusual amount of overvote (voting for more candidates than is allowed) and undervotes (voting for fewer than the minimum candidates, including none at all).

    Blog text (20)

  • A full state recount (the independent one and the newspaper coalition one using under and overvotes) found that Gore won the state when every recount standard ranging from liberal (pregnant chad) to conservative (no chad) was used.

    Blog text (5)

  • An overvote happens when a voter selects too many candidates on their ballot, causing their vote to be invalid.

Synonyms

overvoting
vsovervote
  • Specialized
8.5

Choosing more options on a ballot than allowed so the vote does not count

is the noun for the resulting situation rather than the action

Surface Forms

overvote singular
overvotes plural

Morphology

overvote = vote (semi-transparent) = over + vote

Composition 'over' + 'vote' is clear but the specific electoral technical meaning (selecting too many choices) is specialized jargon.

Etymology

Overvote comes from the parts over- ('too much') and vote, like in overeat where over- means 'too much'. It is the name for a ballot that has 'too many' choices, so the vote is not counted.