Crystal Mason Was One Of Thousands Who Cast A Provisional Ballot. She Was The Only One Prosecuted For A Crime.

Noted: A 2002 federal law requires election officials to offer provisional ballots as a safeguard for people who show up at the polls but find they aren’t on the rolls or can’t verify their eligibility. Election officials review the ballots after the polls close and count them if it turns out the voter is eligible and throws them out if they’re not. It’s a requirement born from the chaos in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, when voters turned up at the polls and suddenly found they weren’t on the rolls, said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of its Elections Research Center.