--- title: "Candidate Withdrawals" slug: "withdrawals" description: "Withdraw or Reinstate a candidate from the Questions page, and how withdrawals appear on the ballot and affect Plurality, STV, and Borda results." updated: 2026-11-09T18:50:59Z published: 2026-11-09T18:50:59Z canonical: "help.simplyvoting.com/withdrawals" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.simplyvoting.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Candidate Withdrawals How can I withdraw a candidate from the ballot? From time to time, election organizers may encounter the need to **withdraw** one or more candidates from the ballot. This may happen for a variety of reasons: for instance, a candidate might face an unforeseen life event that prevents them from continuing in the race. Or, a candidate might be found to be ineligible due to a failure to meet certain requirements, or due to disqualification arising from violations of electoral rules or bylaws. Lastly, a candidate might choose to voluntarily withdraw from an election, perhaps due to a change in circumstances or to support another candidate. Simply Voting allows **Election Manager users** with the appropriate permissions to withdraw such candidates from the ballot during or after an election has taken place. ## Pre-requisites - The **Withdrawals** feature must be enabled on your account. If you are unsure whether **Withdrawals** is enabled on your account or would like it enabled, please [contact support](/v1/docs/contacting-support). - You must be a **Super User**, or a **user** with **Full Access** to the **Questions** permission, to be able to withdraw candidates from an election. - Before proceeding, ensure to **communicate** with all stakeholders regarding the withdrawal or reinstatement of a candidate, to avoid any confusion or miscommunication. ## Impact on the Ballot When a candidate is withdrawn from an **Active** election, their name is struck through on the ballot, and the word **WITHDRAWN** is displayed in bold red type next to their name. In the example below, a candidate was withdrawn from a **Plurality** question: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/a78bcdfe-0fc1-4248-a709-1fe58ecd1ca1/Images/Documentation/image(453).png) In this second example, a candidate was withdrawn from a **Preferential** (ranked choice) question: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/a78bcdfe-0fc1-4248-a709-1fe58ecd1ca1/Images/Documentation/image(455).png) **Important:** Electors will still be able to vote for the withdrawn candidate if they wish to do so. If you would prefer to **delete** the candidate from the ballot entirely, and your election is in **Waiting** or **Active** status, please [contact support](/v1/docs/contacting-support) instead. ## Impact on Plurality Results With **Plurality** questions, votes cast for withdrawn options are preserved "as-is", but the withdrawn options are indicated in **Results** with a strikethrough and a note underneath the question's title. ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/a78bcdfe-0fc1-4248-a709-1fe58ecd1ca1/Images/Documentation/image%2855%29.png) ## Impact on Preferential Results With **Preferential** (ranked-choice) questions, results are automatically retabulated to take into account any withdrawn options. Under the **Single Transferable Vote (STV)** counting method, withdrawn options are eliminated at "ROUND 0", and votes cast for those options are redistributed to their next-highest preferences before proceeding to "ROUND 1": ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/a78bcdfe-0fc1-4248-a709-1fe58ecd1ca1/Images/Documentation/image%2857%29.png) Under the **Borda** counting method, withdrawn options are assigned 0 points, and tabulation proceeds as if the withdrawn candidates were not on the ballot. The order of preference is preserved for each vote, so that a second-preference vote becomes a first-preference vote if the elector's first-preference is withdrawn, a third-preference vote becomes a second-preference vote, etc. The number of **Borda** points allocated to each vote is also adjusted to exclude withdrawn candidates from the calculation: for example, if there are four candidates and one of them is withdrawn, non-withdrawn candidates receive three points each time they are ranked first (instead of four), two points each time they are ranked second (instead of three), etc. ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/a78bcdfe-0fc1-4248-a709-1fe58ecd1ca1/Images/Documentation/image%2856%29.png) If the election is already **Finished**, retabulation of results happens instantly whenever an option is withdrawn or reinstated. ## Withdrawing a Candidate [Embedded content](https://demo.arcade.software/l7ikLVmRAeR66Bm1zACb?embed) To withdraw a candidate from the ballot, navigate to the election's **Questions** page. Click on the **options** link next to the question in which the candidate withdrawal needs to occur. Locate the candidate(s) who need(s) to be withdrawn from the list of options. In the **Action** column, click on the orange **Withdraw** button. **If you do not see the Withdraw button**, you may not have the permission to withdraw candidates. Please see the [Pre-requisites](/v1/docs/withdrawals#prerequisites) above and [contact support](/v1/docs/contacting-support) if you have any questions. A green **success** message will appear, confirming that the option has been withdrawn from the ballot. You can verify the appearance of the updated ballot by clicking on the **Proof the Ballot** button on the **Questions** page. ## Reinstating a Candidate [Embedded content](https://demo.arcade.software/l5q6fOJPLuEOQfwVBspz?embed) To reinstate a candidate on the ballot, navigate to the election's **Questions** page. Click on the **options** link next to the question in which the candidate reinstatement needs to occur. Locate the withdrawn candidate(s) who need(s) to be reinstated from the list of options. In the **Action** column, click on the yellow **Reinstate** button. **If you do not see the Reinstate button**, you may not have the permission to reinstate candidates. Please see the [Pre-requisites](/v1/docs/withdrawals#prerequisites) above and [contact support](/v1/docs/contacting-support) if you have any questions. A green **success** message will appear, confirming that the option has been reinstated on the ballot. You can verify the appearance of the updated ballot by clicking on the **Proof the Ballot** button on the **Questions** page.