Provisional Ballot Curing Research Project Instructions

Project Overview:

About VoteRiders

VoteRiders is the country’s leading nonpartisan organization focused on the critical issue of voter ID. Our mission is to eliminate ID barriers to the ballot box so every eligible voter can cast a ballot that counts. We inform communities about ID laws, equip partner organizations to expand voting access, advocate for pro-voter policies, and provide free one-on-one help to individuals to secure an accepted form of ID to vote. 

About L4GG

Lawyers for Good Government is a community of 125,000 lawyers, law students, and activists fighting to ensure equal rights, equal opportunities and equal justice under the law. We coordinate large scale pro bono programs and engage in advocacy and policy work, seeking not only to establish and enforce equality under the law, but to also create the social and economic conditions that lead to true equity.

About the Project

In order to support that work, VoteRiders needs to update their resources for 2026 on how a voter can "cure" (i.e. fix errors on) their provisional ballot in order to make sure it is counted.

Instructions for Participating Attorneys:

  • Attend the Training

    • The training will be held on Tuesday, September 22 at 2-3 pm ET / 11 am-12 pm PT on Zoom and will be recorded for anyone who cannot attend. 

    • The recording can be accessed here.

  • Review the Research Questions

    • Before accessing the form, we recommend that you review the research questions at the bottom of this document.

  • Conduct Your Research

    • We have provided research tools for you to use below.

    • When using secondary sources, please make sure to confirm the current law with primary sources.

  • Compile Your Research

    • We recommend that during the legal research process, you gather your findings in a Word or Google document prior to completing the online form.

  • Citations

    • Whenever discussing any laws, regulations, or cases in your responses, please provide both the Bluebook citation and link to the citation in Justia. We ask that any citations to statute are linked to Justia - if you find the citation or case in Westlaw or Lexis, please then search for it in Justia to provide a publicly available link. This allows us to easily add the research to public facing materials for our community.

  • Submit Your Research

    • Once you have completed your research, please copy and paste your findings into the corresponding fields using this online form. 

    • Please check your answers for accuracy before pressing “Submit.”

    • Note: L4GG strongly prefers that a single attorney be responsible for filling out one form per state.

    • Please submit the completed form online by Monday, October 12.

Questions? Email ceridwen@voteriders.org.

Tools:

As you conduct your research, we recommend you consult the following resources:

Sources

  • Your Westlaw or Lexis account. We request that you do all research in your Westlaw or Lexis Account.  These are the most accurate and up-to-date, and importantly include references to the relevant case law and often regulations.

  • Justia. This is a publicly available resource for the state codes of each jurisdiction. However, it does not include Westlaw or Lexis’s keycite or red flags to show if there is superseding case law. 

  • State agencies

    • Check website and/or check with a state election official - usually Secretary of State's office and/or the largest election juridictions in the state

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

(PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE CITATIONS AND LINKS WHEN AVAILABLE FOR EACH OF YOUR ANSWERS)

For your assigned state, please answer the following questions:

  1. What is the deadline for submitting an ID to cure a provisional ballot?

    • Please be specific. If the deadline includes a number of “days”  – clarify if these are business or calendar days. If it references an event like a county canvass  – is there a general time this usually takes place? 

  2. What are the available methods for providing ID?

    • Does the voter have to appear in person at their county election office? Can they submit a copy or image via email or fax? 

  3. Please provide the citations and public links to the law to support your research.

  4. If you have any documents that support your research, including records of email communications with state agencies, please attach the documents.

Once you have completed your research, please submit your responses (with citations/links) using this online form. Thank you for contributing to this important project.