You’re standing in the voting booth. Maybe you’ve got a sticker on your shirt and a slight sense of civic duty, but then you hit the "Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor" race. You have no idea who these people are. One is a retired engineer; the other’s a local hobbyist. You start to sweat. Do you have to pick one just to make the ballot count? Can you leave parts of your ballot blank without the whole thing getting tossed in the trash?
The short answer is a resounding yes. You can absolutely leave parts of your ballot blank.
In the world of elections, this is called undervoting. It’s not just a mistake or a sign of being unprepared; for many, it’s a deliberate choice. Whether you’re skipping a race because you don't know the candidates or because you find all the options equally terrible, your ballot is still valid. The machine isn't going to spit it out like a vending machine rejecting a crumpled dollar bill.
The Myth of the Ruined Ballot
There is this persistent, nagging fear that an incomplete ballot is an invalid one. People worry that if they don't fill in every single bubble, the tabulator will get confused and void the entire sheet. This is fundamentally false.
Election laws in the United States are very clear on this. Your vote is your voice, and that includes the right to remain silent on specific issues. If you vote for President but skip the race for County Clerk, your vote for President still counts. The tabulator reads each race independently. It’s like a multiple-choice test where you don't get penalized for leaving a question blank—you just don't get a "point" for that specific contest.
Wait, there’s a caveat. While a blank space won't ruin your ballot, an overvote might. An overvote happens when you fill in two bubbles for a race where you’re only supposed to pick one. In that specific scenario, the machine can’t guess your intent, so it discounts that specific race. But even then, the rest of your correctly marked votes stay safe.
Why People Choose to Undervote
It’s actually more common than you’d think. According to various studies on "ballot roll-off"—the phenomenon where fewer people vote for down-ballot races than for the top-of-the-ticket ones—voters frequently skip the "boring" stuff.
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Sometimes it’s a lack of information. We’ve all been there. You researched the Governor’s race and the Senate race, but you forgot about the three different judges up for retention. If you don't feel qualified to decide if Judge Miller should keep her seat, skipping it is often seen as the more responsible move. Honestly, it’s better than guessing based on whose name sounds the coolest.
Then there’s the protest skip.
Sometimes a voter hates both candidates in a two-way race. By leaving that section blank, you are technically participating in the election while refusing to give your "consent" to either candidate. It’s a way of saying, "None of the above," even if there isn't a literal button for it. In high-stakes elections, political analysts look at undervote rates to see how much "disenchantment" exists within a party’s base. If 100,000 people vote for a Senator but only 90,000 of them vote for the President on the same ticket, that 10,000-vote gap tells a massive story.
What Happens When the Tabulator Sees a Blank Space?
Modern voting machines—whether they are optical scanners for paper ballots or Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) systems—are programmed to recognize undervotes.
If you are using a paper ballot and you slide it into the scanner, the machine quickly maps the "target areas" (the bubbles). If a target area is empty, the software simply records a "null" for that contest. It then moves to the next race.
In some jurisdictions, the machine might give a little beep or a prompt on the screen. It’s basically asking, "Hey, you missed a spot. Was that on purpose?" This is a safeguard to make sure you didn't accidentally skip a page. You just hit "Cast Ballot" or "Continue," and it processes everything you did mark. It’s a feature, not a bug.
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The Nuance of Multi-Seat Races
Sometimes you’re told to "Vote for up to three."
This is where people get really confused about whether they can leave parts of their ballot blank. If you only like one person in a field of five candidates for a school board, you should only vote for that one person. You don't have to use your other two "points." In fact, in some local elections, "bullet voting" (voting for only one candidate in a multi-seat race) is a strategic move to help your preferred candidate win without giving a leg up to their opponents.
Does Skipping a Race Affect the "Majority"?
This is a bit of a "nerdy" election point, but it matters. Most elections are decided by a plurality or a majority of the votes cast in that specific race, not the total number of people who walked into the building.
If 1,000 people show up to vote, but only 600 people vote for the local tax levy, the levy's success is determined by those 600 votes. The 400 people who left it blank are essentially removed from the equation for that specific issue. They don't count as "No" votes. They are just... gone.
However, there are rare exceptions in certain jurisdictions or for specific types of ballot initiatives where a measure must pass by a majority of all voters who participated in the election. These are rare and usually involve complex constitutional amendments in specific states. In 99% of cases, your blank space is just a non-vote.
The Strategy of the Blank Space
Let’s talk about the "None of the Above" (NOTA) option. In the United States, Nevada is the only state that actually has a "None of These Candidates" option on the ballot for certain offices.
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Even there, NOTA can’t actually "win" the office. If NOTA gets the most votes, the runner-up candidate still gets the job. But in every other state, leaving the race blank is your only way to register that same sentiment.
It’s worth noting that if you’re trying to make a point, a blank space is often more effective than a write-in vote for "Mickey Mouse" or "My Dog." Why? Because write-in votes often require manual processing by human beings. If you write in a fake name, someone has to read it, realize it’s a joke, and then categorize it. If you leave it blank, the machine handles it instantly. It’s cleaner, though perhaps less satisfying if you really wanted to vent your frustration.
The Physical Ballot: Don't Get Creative
While you can leave parts of your ballot blank, you should avoid "marking" the blank space. Don't write "N/A" or "I hate both of these guys" in the margin.
Stray marks are the enemy of the optical scanner. If you write outside the bubbles or in the margins, the machine might flag the ballot for "adjudication." This means a human election worker—usually a bipartisan team—has to look at your ballot to determine your intent. While they will try their best to count your valid votes, why take the risk? If you want to skip a race, just leave the bubble white and move on.
Practical Steps for Your Next Election
If you're feeling nervous about an upcoming vote, here is how to handle the "blank space" anxiety like a pro:
- Check a Sample Ballot: Most counties post sample ballots online weeks before the election. Look at it. See those weird positions like "Register of Deeds" or "Drain Commissioner"? Research them now so you don't feel the pressure to skip them later.
- Know the "Vote for X" Rules: Read the instructions above each race carefully. If it says "Vote for not more than two," and you only like one, just mark one.
- Don't Fear the Beep: If the machine tells you that you have an "undervoted ballot," don't panic. It’s just checking in. Confirm that you meant to do that, and you’re good to go.
- Focus on What Matters: If you only care about the Presidential race and a local school bond, you can vote for those two things and leave the other 20 races blank. Your ballot will still be counted exactly as you intended.
Your right to vote is also a right to choose which specific offices you want to influence. If you don't have an opinion on the "Appellate Court Judge," you aren't doing anyone a favor by guessing. Leaving it blank is a perfectly valid, legal, and often smart way to navigate a crowded ballot.
Make sure you've signed your ballot envelope if you are voting by mail, as a missing signature is a much bigger deal than a missing vote in a single race. Double-check your registration status on your Secretary of State's website at least 30 days before the election to ensure your voice—or your strategic silence—is heard.