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FACT BRIEF

Can ballot counts vary among races in the same election?

By Carmela Guaglianone
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YES

The same election can produce different ballot totals for different races, because not all seats represent the same geographic area and not all voters mark a preference in every race.

The claim shows election results for Democratic primary candidates in Arizona’s 1st and 3rd congressional districts. These districts vary in both size and population: The 1st Congressional District spans the northeastern portion of Maricopa County, while the 3rd Congressional District covers most of downtown and southwest Phoenix.

Races involving the same geographic boundaries may also result in different ballot counts if some voters choose to leave one or more races blank, commonly referred to as “undervoting.” In an instance of “overvoting,” in which a voter selects more than the appropriate number of candidates in a given race, no vote in that race will be counted. In both cases, all correctly marked races will be counted as usual.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Arizona Secretary of State 2024 Primary Election Unofficial Results
Maricopa County Elections Department Just the Facts
Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Official Maps
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.