BIBB COUNTY, Ga. — Some Central Georgia voters had to cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot is a paper ballot cast when poll workers can't determine whether a person is actually eligible to vote. That can happen when a voter does not bring a photo ID to the poll, shows up at the wrong precinct, or a person's name is not showing up on the list.
Watson also said because some voters didn't receive their absentee ballot or they changed their mind about voting absentee, they were given provisional ballots.
"So if they go into their polling location, they take their ballot with them. If the poll workers are not able to contact our office to make sure that the ballot can be cancelled, so they can vote in person, we would tell them to give the voter a provisional ballot," said Watson.
"So it gives the voter an opportunity to still cast their ballot and gives us time to do research to see whether or not their ballot is eligible to be counted," she said.
Watson says they generally have all provisional ballots confirmed by the Friday after the election. She said the Chief Registrar is handling these votes.
"If she has an overabundance of them, and it's taking them a while to go through and do the process of confirming ballots to make sure that nobody had an opportunity to vote twice. That may take a little bit longer," she said.
Watson said provisional ballots could have an impact on final results.
"Sure, if a race is very close within 50 to 100 votes sometimes the provisional ballot may make a difference, but historically, they haven't," she said.
Watson says they're verifying hundreds of provisional votes.