What are the reasons to call a redo election? (2024)

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A redo election, also known as a revote or special election remedy, is the process of voiding election results and holding a new election. The specific reasons for calling a redo election vary, but might include deliberate efforts to obscure the results such as electoral fraud or mistakes like a broken voting machine.

States or courts may call a redo election in the following cases. This list was adapted from Professor Steven Huefner's "Remedying Election Wrongs" in the Harvard Journal on Legislation:

• Electoral fraud: Electoral fraud is a deliberate, illegal interference with the process of an election. It can take different forms, including in-person voter fraud and fraudulent activity involving absentee/mail-in ballots.

• Mistakes: Mistakes encompass accidents that affect the outcome of an election by potentially disenfranchising voters. Types of mistakes range from mechanical errors such as a malfunctioning voting machine to election officials accidentally allowing ineligible individuals to vote. Other types of mistakes might include a polling place opening hours late, ballots that do not include a candidate's name, or errors in voting instructions that result in a large number of invalid ballots.

• Nonfraudulent misconduct: According to Huefner, "[G]iven the increasing number of substantive constraints on the election process ... candidates or their supporters may violate election laws in ways other than outright voting fraud. Like actual voting fraud, however, these violations may in some circumstances undermine the reliability of the election outcome." Types of nonfradulent misconduct include campaign finance violations, electioneering at the polls, or violations of the Voting Rights or Help America Vote Acts.

• External events: Natural disasters, attacks, power outages, or other types of outside events might warrant a redo election if they prevent individuals from voting.

See also

• Can candidates win an election if they have already conceded?
• Election recount laws and procedures in the 50 states
• Who can request a recount?
• Who pays for recounts and contested elections?
• Who can file election-related lawsuits?
• Who can call a redo election?