Rejected Ballots: How Kenya Cut Spoiled Votes From 1.5% to 0.8%

In Bungoma, rejected ballots dropped from 1.51% to 0.86% between 2013 and 2017. Nationally, Kenya cut its spoiled vote rate by nearly half. But thousands of voices are still being lost.

A rejected ballot is a vote that does not count. The voter showed up, waited in line, and marked their paper. But something went wrong — they voted for two candidates, their mark was unclear, or they defaced the ballot. In a tight election, rejected ballots can literally change the outcome.

In 2013, Kenya had a rejected ballot rate of about 1.1% in the presidential election. By 2017, that dropped to roughly 0.54%. And in 2022, out of 14,326,751 total ballots, 113,614 were rejected — about 0.8%. The trend is clear: Kenya has gotten better at reducing ballot rejection, even if there was a small uptick in 2022.

The County-Level Picture: 2013 vs 2017

The most detailed comparison comes from the IEBC's data on the top 10 counties by registered voters. This shows a consistent pattern: every single county reduced its rejected ballot rate between 2013 and 2017.

Look at the numbers county by county:

• Kakamega: 1.47% (2013) → 0.75% (2017) — almost halved
• Bungoma: 1.51% (2013) → 0.86% (2017) — a 43% reduction
• Kisii: 1.32% (2013) → 0.75% (2017) — from problematic to manageable
• Machakos: 1.30% (2013) → 0.70% (2017) — nearly halved
• Mombasa: 1.10% (2013) → 0.83% (2017) — steady improvement
• Meru: 1.03% (2013) → 0.86% (2017) — a 17% drop
• Nakuru: 0.89% (2013) → 0.62% (2017) — consistently low and getting lower
• Nairobi: 0.86% (2013) → 0.42% (2017) — more than halved
• Kiambu: 0.65% (2013) → 0.39% (2017) — among Kenya's cleanest ballot counties
• Murang'a: 0.56% (2013) → 0.23% (2017) — the gold standard

Murang'a's 0.23% in 2017 is remarkable. Out of roughly 509,000 valid votes, only about 1,182 ballots were rejected. That is voter education working.

The National Trend: Getting Better, Then a Small Setback

Nationally, the presidential rejected ballot numbers tell a story of progress:

• 2013: Approximately 108,975 rejected ballots out of about 12.3 million votes = ~0.88%
• 2017: 81,685 rejected ballots out of about 15.2 million votes = ~0.54%
• 2022: 113,614 rejected ballots out of about 14.3 million votes = ~0.80%

The 2022 uptick is interesting. It could be because of the IEBC's redesigned ballot paper, voter confusion with four candidates after years of two-horse races, or simply the natural variation that comes with 46,000+ polling stations.

According to election monitoring reports from the Daily Nation, some of the 2022 rejections came from voters who marked their ballot outside the designated box, a problem that better ballot design could solve.

Why Rejected Ballots Matter

Here is why this matters politically. In 2022, William Ruto beat Raila Odinga by 233,211 votes. The rejected ballot total was 113,614. That means rejected ballots equalled nearly half the victory margin.

If even a fraction of those rejected ballots were intentional votes that got disqualified for technical reasons, the race could have been even tighter. In a country where presidential elections are decided by slim margins, rejected ballots are not a minor detail.

The problem is especially sharp in certain counties. In the 2022 election, counties like Bungoma had 5,516 rejected ballots and Kakamega had 5,562. These are counties with historically high rejection rates, and while they improved from 2013, the absolute numbers remain significant.

What Reduced Rejected Ballots?

Several factors contributed to the improvement between 2013 and 2017:

• Voter education: The IEBC and civil society organisations ran massive campaigns showing voters how to mark their ballots correctly
• Ballot design improvements: Clearer instructions and better-designed ballot papers reduced confusion
• Repeat experience: By 2017, voters had been through the six-position ballot system once before. Familiarity helped.
• Presiding officer training: Better-trained officials helped voters who were confused, reducing errors before they happened

What This Means for 2027

Kenya has shown that rejected ballots can be reduced. The drop from 1.47% to 0.75% in Kakamega, or from 0.56% to 0.23% in Murang'a, proves that voter education works.

The 2027 challenge will be maintaining the gains while onboarding millions of first-time voters who have never used a paper ballot. With talk of electronic voting, the rejected ballot problem could look very different in the next cycle.

For more on Kenya's electoral trends, read about the great turnout decline and the explosion of election petitions.

Key Takeaways

1. National rejected ballot rate: ~0.88% (2013) → 0.54% (2017) → 0.80% (2022)
2. Every top-10 county improved between 2013 and 2017 — from Kakamega's 49% reduction to Murang'a's 59% drop
3. 113,614 rejected ballots in 2022 equalled nearly half the 233,211-vote margin of victory
4. Murang'a achieved 0.23% — proving that near-zero rejection is possible with good voter education

In close elections, rejected ballots decide outcomes. Votrack tracks rejected ballot data at the polling station level, helping parties and observers identify problems in real time. Request a demo before 2027.