Ballots left uncounted in Hendricks County - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Sandra Chapman/Eyewitness News

Hendricks County, Nov. 16 - "This needs to be addressed because there's definitely a big gaping hole there." Emily Luvberg didn't get to vote.

She and countless others thought they registered at pop up voter registration sites. Luvberg signed up at a cultural event.

But days before the election she found her name missing from the rolls. Others didn't find out until they tried to cast a vote. "It was extremely upsetting because just like everybody else, I had a vested interest in this election."

The government designed a new federal provisional ballot as a safety net. A provisional ballot gives a voter who would otherwise be turned away one last chance to make their vote count. But even with that, there's no guarantee.

In Hendricks County, where Lovberg's registration never showed up, officials handed out 102 provisional ballots.

But how many counted? Hendricks County Election Supervisor Laura Herzog says, "Unfortunately, none of them were actually able to be counted."

And Luvberg's reaction, "wow!"

Election officials say missing initials voided some, but in most cases there was no confirmation of voter registration.

"We don't regulate these voter registration drives by any means," says Herzog, "so unfortunately some of those applications might not always make it to the proper county office."

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita points out, "There is no crime to ask people to register to vote. It is a crime, however, if you intentionally fail to turn in that person's voter registration form."