Provisional ballots are cast by voters whose names do not appear on the precinct roster. If a voter goes to a precinct and is not on the precinct roster - the voter may still cast a ballot.

The voter uses a regular precinct ballot, which is then placed in a special envelope that the voter must sign, much like an absentee envelope. During the official canvass (the official count), the elections official checks the voter registration file to verify the voter's eligibility to cast the ballot. Once verified, the ballot is added to the official count. These ballots added to the absentees not processed on election night can number 300,000 to 800,000. Based on the number of absentees requested, that number may be even larger for this election, perhaps as many as 1,000,000 ballots to be processed during the official canvass.

If, however, the voter is not eligible to cast a ballot (e.g. the voter is not currently registered to vote in that county), then the ballot is not counted.

Once a provisional ballot is cast, the voter has a right to know if it is counted. Beginning in January 2004, each county in California will have to establish a process to notify voters whether their ballot was counted or not and, if not, why the ballot was not eligible. This will allow voters to correct their registration status before the next election.

In the November 2000 election more than 200,000 provisional ballots were cast. Almost 40 percent of those were rejected because the voter was not eligible to cast a ballot.

In order to avoid voting provisionally - register to vote at your current address if you have not already, and once you receive your sample ballot, check the back to - or call 1-800-345-VOTE or our multilingual voter hotlines - to determine your designated polling place location.