Absentee Voting or Vote By Mail: A ballot cast by a voter other than in-person on election day. Some jurisdictions use the term synonymous with mailed ballots while other jurisdictions use the term synonymous with early voting.
Ballot: The official presentation of all of the contests to be decided in a particular election. Either in paper or electronic format, the mechanism for voters to show their voter preferences
Constituent: A person who is represented politically by a designated government official or officeholder, especially when the official is one that the person represented has the opportunity to participate in selecting through voting.
District (also Ward): A political subdivision established within a specific geographic area.
Early Voting: Voting before election day where the voter completes the ballot in person at an elections office or other designated polling site prior to election day. Early voting can also include voting with a mailed or absentee ballot prior to election day.
Election Official: Individuals who have been elected to hold public office or candidates appointed in lieu of being elected to a public office.
General Election: Election in which all eligible voters, regardless of party affiliation, are able to vote for candidates to fill public office and/or vote on ballot measures. General elections happen at a local, state, and national level.
Incumbent: A candidate who is currently serving in an office they were appointed to, and they are a candidate for election to the same office.
Midterm Election: Elections that take place between presidential elections.
Political Party: An organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a country’s elections. It is common for the members of a political party to have similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals.
Polling Place (Polling Station): Facility to which voters are assigned to cast in-person ballots.
Poll Worker: The official responsible for the proper and orderly voting at a polling location or an election process.
Precinct (Election District, Voting District): Election administration division corresponding to a contiguous geographic area that is the basis for determining which contests and issues the voters legally residing in that area are eligible to vote on.
Primary Election (Open and Closed): Election held to determine which candidate will represent a political party for a given office in the general election. Some states have an open primary, while others have a closed or modified closed, primary. Sometimes elections for nonpartisan offices and ballot issues are held during primary elections.
Provisional Ballot: A ballot cast by a voter who was not on the list of eligible voters, whose information was incomplete or not accurate, or who had already received a ballot in the mail and was allowed to vote. Fail-safe ballots are usually kept separate from the other ballots until an election official can determine if the voter is eligible to vote. These ballots are sometimes called fail- safe ballots.
Referendum: Process whereby a state law or constitutional amendment may be referred to the voters before it goes into effect.
Registered Voter: A voter who is listed on an electoral roll for the jurisdiction where a voter resides.
Special Election: Primary, general, municipal, proposition, run-off, or recall election that is not held on a date and time regularly scheduled through statute. A special election may be combined with a scheduled election.
Term: The period of time for which a person is elected or appointed to hold a public office. Terms of elected office are usually 2, 4, or 6 years.
Term Limit: A legal restriction that limits the total number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office.
Voter Identification (Voter ID): A means of proving a person’s identity for the purposes of voting, according to the laws of the jurisdiction. Common forms of Identification are Driver’s Licenses and Passports.
Credit: Civic Alliance, 2022; Glossary terms sourced from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Glossary of Election Terminology.