As election administration is subjected to greater scrutiny, alongside the rise of election denialism and the adoption of anti-democracy language, we must be clear about the terminology governing our elections.
Language — the words we choose and how we use them — has immense power. At its best, it has the power to instill confidence and create a shared understanding. But at its most destructive, language has the power to corrupt and sow confusion.
As much as we wish it were, there’s nothing simple about the language of elections as our recent 50 State Post-Vote Guide demonstrated. As we looked at the governing post-vote processes across the country, we confirmed that the variation in the language used to describe these processes is vast — a product of our federal system.
This variation isn’t problematic on its own, but it does allow for confusion, especially true when state-run elections are examined through a national lens.
So as a part of our mission to make visible the unseen parts of the vote counting and certification process, we’ve taken a deeper look at some of the key terminology used in these election processes to help us gain a better understanding of how elections are administered across the country.
In this latest analysis, you’ll find a discussion about the following key terms and processes:
Canvass
Certification
Pre-Processing
Audits
Hand Counts
We hope to share this resource as a way to instill confidence in our electoral system and fight back against the threats that seek to undermine our democracy.
And of course, as always, we’re interested in your feedback. Feel free to drop us a note at info@ or reply to this post.
Thank you,
The Informing Democracy Team
P.S. – In case you missed our last release, you can also find calendars of post-vote processes from the 50 State Post-Vote Guide here.