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Glite Dictionary
🗳️ Too few votes 🗳️ To skip voting
to undervote

to undervote

1 8.0
To cast fewer votes than the ballot allows in a contest
  • verb
  • /ˈʌndərˌvoʊt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : subestimar el voto
  • If you don't feel strongly about a candidate, you might decide to undervote and not select anyone for that position.

Examples

  • 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)

  • Many voters chose to undervote in the recent election, leaving several positions unmarked on their ballots.

  • In some districts, a significant number of ballots had undervotes, indicating that many voters skipped certain races.

Synonyms

to abstain
vsto undervote
  • Formal
16 5.6

To choose not to vote in a meeting or election

can leave a contest unmarked often accidentally or due to ballot confusion

How Complete

to undervote
  • Specialized
1 8.0
to abstain
  • Formal
16 5.6

Surface Forms

undervote infinitive
undervoted past
undervoted past participle
undervoting present participle
undervotes third person singular

Morphology

undervote = vote (transparent) = under + vote

The verb is formed by prefixing 'under-' to the verb 'vote', producing the meaning 'to cast fewer votes' which is a regular and interpretable formation.

Etymology

To undervote comes from the parts under ('below' or 'too few') and vote ('to choose in an election'). To undervote is to cast fewer votes than you can — for example leaving a race unmarked or picking fewer choices — so the verb literally means to 'vote below' the allowed number.