Ballot Status refers to the current state of a voter’s ballot for a given election, as reported by official election systems or validated tracking mechanisms.
This field is able to represent the full lifecycle of a ballot, from when an absentee or mail ballot is requested or designated to be sent to a voter, to when the voter submits or returns their ballot, through when the full election certification process has been completed by the election officials and a vote has officially counted.
The possible values and their definitions are:
Requested: Voter’s absentee ballot request has been recorded, or mail ballot is slated to be issued to the voter (such as in an all-mail state).
Sent to Voter: Election officials have recorded sending an absentee or mail ballot to the voter, but have no record of the voter submitting or returning the completed ballot yet.
Ballot Cast: Election officials have recorded receiving a ballot from the voter for the given election, implying the voter has submitted or returned their ballot electronically, in person, in the ballot box, by mail, or in a drop box to be tabulated. Note that this does not imply that the ballot has been officially checked, counted, confirmed, or certified by election officials (see “Certified Vote” below).
Rejected: Election officials have recorded rejecting a ballot. Depending on the district and timing, the voter may have an opportunity to correct and re-submit their ballot. If a voter corrects and re-submits the rejected ballot, the status would change to Ballot Cast.
Certified Vote: Election officials have recorded an official vote during the process of election certification, which involves validating, auditing, and certifying all ballots cast in an election in order to officially count the votes. This process can occur in the days, weeks, or months after Election Day, and the ballot status will be updated to “Certified Vote” only once election officials report that a ballot has officially counted as a “vote.” Read more about election certification on the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) website.
Related Resources
Vote History and Voting Activity Overview
View all Data Dictionary articles for Civic Data
Filter the “Voting Activity" Category of Attributes in Community Builder
Early Voting and Absentee Voting Data - State Guide
Partisan Data Registered Party and Ballot Party - State Guide 501C4 only