verb
- to cast more votes than one is entitled to cast in an election
- to vote for more candidates than the number of positions available
Usage: third person singular present tense or plural form
Usage: third person singular present tense or plural form
noun
- instances or ballots in which a voter has cast more votes than permitted
Usage: plural form
Examples
- The election officials discovered several overvotes on the ballots.
- When a voter overvotes, their ballot may be invalidated or the excess votes discarded.
- The machine detected overvotes and flagged them for manual review.
- In some jurisdictions, overvotes result in the entire ballot being rejected.
- The recount revealed multiple overvotes that had not been caught initially.
- Voters sometimes overvote by mistake when they are unfamiliar with the ballot format.