Election words, explained

Unofficial count

Any count before certification. Election-night totals and the updates that follow are unofficial: officials are still adding mail, provisional and overseas ballots and checking the totals, so the numbers can change.

Canvass

The official review of the count after Election Day. Local election officials make sure every valid ballot was counted once, including ballots that arrived or were checked after election night, and add up the final totals.

Certification

The formal approval of the final count. Counties certify their own results first; then a state official or board certifies the statewide result. A result is final only once it is certified.

Recount

Counting the ballots in a race again. Some states order one automatically when a race is very close. In others a candidate or voter can ask for one before a deadline, sometimes for a fee.

Runoff

A second election between the top finishers when no one got the share of the vote the law requires, usually more than half. Georgia, for example, holds a runoff when no candidate in a non-presidential race gets a majority.

Provisional ballot

A ballot cast when a voter's eligibility has to be checked first, for example when their name is not on the list at the polling place. It is counted only after officials confirm the voter was eligible.

Ballot measure

A question voters decide directly, such as a change to the state constitution, a new law or a bond. Each state sets the share of the vote a measure needs, and some changes to a constitution need more than half.

Retention election

A yes-or-no vote on whether a judge keeps the job for a new term. The judge has no opponent. State law sets the share of yes votes the judge needs.

PAC (political action committee)

A group registered with the Federal Election Commission, or a state agency, that raises and spends money to support or oppose candidates. Federal law limits how much a traditional PAC can give a candidate.

Super PAC

A PAC that may raise and spend unlimited amounts, but only on its own: it may not give money to candidates or plan its spending with their campaigns.

Independent expenditure

Money spent on ads, mail or calls that ask people to vote for or against a candidate, without working with that candidate's campaign. Federal law requires it to be reported to the Federal Election Commission.

Sources: Federal Election Commission: political action committees; Federal Election Commission: types of nonconnected PACs; Campaign Legal Center and partners: 2026 guide to election certification.