Last minute tips to help voters navigate unexpected moments while voting

The election is just a few short weeks away. After so much preparation, it’s coming down to the final moments. Every last-minute step of preparation helps to make sure all voters are able to cast their ballots as they expect.

Yet, mix-ups, misunderstandings and confusions can always come up. People show up to vote, only to find out that they aren’t registered yet and that they need to vote provisionally. Voters may forget to sign their name on their mail ballot return envelope.

Your office can help voters understand what happened and make them feel confident in their vote being counted, even when things don’t go according to plan. Your actions can color voters’ perception of elections—and government as a whole—for a long time. Below we’ve covered some of the common unexpected moments that can arise during the busy election season and our tips on how to prepare ahead of time to address them.

Give provisional voters a handout with info on what to do next

Provisional voters often have questions about how and when their vote will be counted and whether they need to follow up with any additional steps. Be proactive by giving voters a handout with information about provisional voting and the next steps they need to take.

This handout can include:

What happened that day (an explanation of provisional voting)
What the voter’s next steps are
Any timelines to keep track of
Who they can reach out to for help

Voters may need to vote provisionally for a number of reasons, whether it’s a mismatched address, a name change, or not having the right ID. Regardless of the reason, whenever a new step to a familiar process (like voting) is introduced – such as filling out a provisional ballot – it can introduce stress or anxiety. That means they may not remember everything they are told at the provisional voting table, or they may have new questions they didn’t think to ask in the moment. By giving them something to take home, you can support them after they’ve left the polling place and the first adrenaline-rush of stress is over.

Addressing voters’ concerns proactively is an effective way to make sure voters are both informed and take the necessary steps to ensure their vote is counted. A handout also goes a long way in ensuring votes are counted and in building long-term voter trust.

Make sure cure letters are clear and inspire voters to act

Mail-in ballots can be rejected for different reasons, but even when voters are given a chance to fix – or “cure” – the problem, they may not take advantage of the opportunity to have their ballot count. In 2020 we did research on how to write cure letters that inspire voters to act.

4 major tips came out of this research:

Make it trustworthy by showing it came from your office. Add seals, contact information, or by using familiar branding elements.
Make it clear, avoiding jargon by writing in plain language.
Make it have a clear call to action so voters know what they can do next to resolve the problem.
Make the dates transparent, especially if there are tight deadlines.

Since then, we’ve worked with election offices to create letters to voters that both provide information about a specific point in a process and require the voter to send back information to resolve a problem. Cure is a great example of this type of hybrid form. Through this work, we’ve learned more tips for creating effective cure letters:

Manage expectation by letting voters know what happens next. (Bonus: this helps reduce unnecessary questions or calls to your office!)
Pre-populate voter information or barcodes to prevent errors and speed up processing time for your staff.
Have a very clear goal in mind. Don’t distract the voter with unnecessary information and only ask voters for what’s necessary to solve the immediate problem.

Set up an e-mail autoresponder to anticipate voter questions

It’s hard to keep up with incoming emails on Election Day. Setting up an automated response on your main public email will help get voters the information they need more quickly. Anticipate the questions you are likely to receive and include answers in your autoresponse.

You can quickly set this up as an out-of-office email. Best of all, you can easily adjust the message – every day during the busy election season – to add the latest information, change the information as deadlines pass, or respond to items in the news.

We’ve put together some text, ready for you to customize, including alternative messages to use as deadlines pass. Download the Microsoft Word file to get started.

Here are a few of our tips to make autoresponder emails effective:

Reassure the voter that their email will be answered as quickly as you can.
Start with any recent changes – like new drop boxes, early voting hours, court-ordered changes – at the top, along with any information related to current issues in the news
Don’t provide too much detail. This isn’t everything on a topic, but the most basic information for the time in the election cycle.
Link to information pages, but make sure that it’s clear where they can find the form or personalized look-up to take action.

We want to wish good luck to all the election officials. We appreciate all the work you do and are thinking about you during this election cycle.