Want to understand provisional ballots in Georgia before any misinformation takes hold? Let’s talk about the facts with these votes and how the counties will evaluate all of them and count any remaining votes.

Under Georgia law, provisional ballots are those that require additional research before they can be counted. Many, if not most, of these ballots ultimately will be lawfully counted in Georgia at the federal level.

There are any number of reasons that a voter may be required to cast a provisional ballot in Georgia, rather than a regular ballot. For this election, I expect to see them fall into five main categories.

First, at least half of provisional ballots are due to voters showing up at the wrong precinct on Election Day. Under Georgia law, any ballots cast in a voter’s home county will count for every race in which they are eligible to vote.

That means provisional ballots in a voter’s home county that are out of precinct will count for every statewide race, every countywide race, and many large district races.