The West Wing
Object

Donna's Ballot Photocopy

Donna bubbles the Republican ticket by mistake on this absentee ballot's optical-scan photocopy during Election Day briefings in the communications office. Josh spots the error. She snatches the creased sheet, folds it for safekeeping, and storms out to correct it by trading with a Ritchie voter. Josh later references the blunder in the Outer Oval Office while pitching Donna to Commander Jack, turning her voting mishap into an awkward anecdote amid matchmaking attempts.
8 appearances

Purpose

Evidence proving a voter's mistaken ballot to request correction

Significance

Triggers Donna's urgent correction effort and fuels Josh's ill-judged anecdotes to Commander Jack, exposing tensions in their working relationship and personal boundaries during election night chaos.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

8 moments
S4E7 · Election Night
Donna's Ballot Panic

Donna's photocopied absentee ballot functions as the catalytic prop: she offers it as a sentimental request for the President's signature, Josh inspects it to evaluate the mark pattern, and it reveals her mistaken marking of the Republican ticket — triggering her panic and physical exit with the paper in hand.

Before: In Donna's possession as a folded, creased photocopy intended for a keepsake (handed to Josh for inspection).
After: Snatched back by Donna and carried off as she storms out to 'rectify' the mistake; remains a personal object central to her remedial action.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Donna's Vote‑Swap Gambit

Donna's ballot photocopy is the latent cause of her panic and decision to sprint to a nearby polling place to 'swap' votes. While the copy itself isn't produced in this moment in the lobby, it motivates her abrupt exit and reframes private error as immediate action.

Before: In Donna's possession earlier in the day (she has already made a photocopy of her mistaken absentee ballot).
After: Still in Donna's possession offstage; she departs the West Wing to attempt an improvised correction.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Sonogram Jokes and Election-Night Hustle

Donna's Ballot Photocopy is the proximate cause of Donna's decision to leave and attempt a vote swap; while the photocopy itself isn't shown in this exact moment, her action is directly driven by that object and its political risk.

Before: In Donna's possession (she has already prepared or is aware of the photocopy prompting urgency).
After: Donna departs to attempt the swap; the photocopy's fate is not shown but it remains the motivating evidence of her mistake.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Donna's Honor Gambit Outside the Polls

Donna thrusts a single-sheet photocopy of her completed absentee ballot toward the elderly man as quasi-evidence of her claim—its existence is central to her plea but is dismissed as insufficient proof, exposing the limits of symbolic gestures in civic processes.

Before: In Donna's possession, creased and hastily folded after she photocopied her completed absentee ballot in distress.
After: Returned to Donna's possession (implicitly); remains a contested, non-authoritative prop that fails to change the voter's mind.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Sam Seizes the Button — Duty Over a Promise

Donna brandishes a single-sheet photocopy of her completed absentee ballot as evidence to persuade the elderly man that she already voted in Wisconsin and thus his local vote is especially valuable; the copy functions as both proof and a symbol of improvised desperation.

Before: Photocopy is folded, in Donna's possession, used as a visual aid in her plea.
After: Remains with Donna (still available as evidence), its persuasive value unconsummated when the voter refuses to be swayed.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Donna Tries to Buy Back an Honor Vote

Donna brandishes a single-sheet photocopy of her absentee ballot as a prop to prove that she legitimately voted for Ritchie by mistake. The copy functions as evidence, a pleading device, and comic punctuation — she offers it to Jack to validate her plea for him to counterbalance her error.

Before: In Donna's possession, folded with creases from frantic handling; recently made to document the mistaken absentee vote.
After: Still with Donna after Jack declines to examine it; it served its persuasive purpose and remains as a memento of the embarrassment.
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S4E7 · Election Night
Balancing the Ballot: Donna's Mistake, Jack's Gesture

Donna produces a single-sheet photocopy of her completed absentee ballot and offers it to Jack as tangible proof of her mistaken Ritchie vote. The photocopy functions as both evidence and a prop that dramatizes her desperation, but Jack refuses it, treating the fix as an ethical gesture rather than a bureaucratic transaction.

Before: In Donna's possession, folded and ready to show (crease marks from hasty handling).
After: Remains with Donna (not accepted or used); it serves its rhetorical role and is not exchanged.
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S4E10 · Arctic Radar
Josh's Awkward Matchmaking and Donna's Humiliation

Donna's ballot photocopy is the origin of the Ritchie vote anecdote Jack recalls; it anchors the present social connection (Jack's memory of meeting Donna outside the polling place) which Josh uses as the opening bridge to tell further stories.

Before: In Donna's possession earlier in the day (folded, kept as a record of the mistake).
After: Unchanged and not physically present in the current beats; it functions narratively to explain how Jack knew Donna.
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