Virginia - Fairfax County Office of Elections
Program Title
Overlay It! The Simple Solution That Ensures Every Provisional Vote Can Count
Program Summary
In Virginia, provisional voters must complete multiple fields on a complicated and busy provisional envelope, with seven required fields interspersed between many optional ones. Failure to complete any required field invalidates the entire envelope, preventing the ballot from being counted. This common human error creates an avoidable barrier to voting, leading to voter frustration and an administrative burden on election officials. To address these mistakes, the Fairfax County Office of Elections developed plastic overlays that match the envelopes with cutouts over only the required fields. By placing the overlay on top of the envelope, missing fields are immediately visible, allowing voters to correct errors before submission. This simple tool allows poll workers to instantly verify whether a voter has completed all necessary fields. The Fairfax County Office of Elections worked with a local print vendor to design and manufacture these overlays from durable polystyrene plastic, with each overlay being precisely die-cut. This makes for an easy-to-use product that can be reused in each election. This low-cost solution has already led to significantly higher envelope completion rates, reduced administrative workload, and greater voter confidence in the provisional voting process.