Special votes are a type of vote made by an elector who is unable to cast an ordinary vote in an election. In New Zealand, special votes are made by anyone who cannot vote because they are not in their electorate, are overseas, are not on the printed electoral roll they believe they should be, enrolled to vote after Writ Day, are on the unpublished roll, are ill or infirm and cannot get to a polling place, are in hospital, are a prisoner on remand, or can satisfy the returning officer that going to a polling place would cause hardship or serious inconvenience. Special votes can be cast at any polling place by those in another electorate, and the New Zealand Electoral Commission sets up special polling-places in hospitals, maternity homes, and rest homes, where voting can take place on election day.
Special votes tend to take a long time to count because they include votes cast outside a voter’s home electorate. These votes need to be posted back to the home electorate and checked against the electoral roll before they can be counted. In New Zealand, the decision to release the results on a predetermined day three weeks after the election, rather than providing progress updates as the count is completed, has been criticized. In past elections, special votes have favored left-wing parties, costing the right one or two seats from the preliminary results.
In South Africa, special votes allow a registered voter who cant vote at their voting station on election day to apply to vote on a predetermined day before election day. Special votes can be cast at the voters voting station on the predetermined date only, as per the election timetable, or at the place where the voter ordinarily resides on the predetermined dates only, as per the election timetable, if the voter cant travel to their voting station on election day because they are physically infirm, disabled, or pregnant.
In Pennsylvania, special elections are held when someone in office can no longer serve, and voters must select someone to replace that person. Special elections may be held when someone resigns, dies, or gets removed from office. The nominees from each party run against each other in the general election in November.
In summary, special votes are a type of vote made by an elector who is unable to cast an ordinary vote in an election. The reasons for being unable to cast an ordinary vote vary by country, but they generally include being outside of ones electorate, being overseas, not being on the electoral roll, being ill or infirm, or being in hospital or prison. Special votes tend to take longer to count than ordinary votes and may favor certain political parties.
