Section 5611A - Counting procedure for ballot envelopesBeginning 30 days before the day of the election, election judges within each county, selected by the administrators of the Department in that county, shall count ballot envelopes at the Department's offices in the county as follows:
(1) An election judge shall select the ballot envelopes in order of the election districts within the county.(2) For each ballot envelope, the election judges shall ascertain whether a challenge has been made under § 5615A of this title.(3) If no challenge has been made, the election judges shall do all of the following: a. Open the ballot envelopes in such a manner as not to deface or destroy the statement thereon or the mail ballot enclosed.b. Remove the ballots from the ballot envelopes.c. Determine whether the ballots have been properly completed or whether the elector's intent can be determined under § 4972 of this title.d. Tally any mail votes that were written-in, or that must be counted by hand under § 4972 of this title, on mail vote tally sheets for the election district with whose votes the mail votes are to be counted.e. Record the proper notations of such votes in the election records for the election district to which they apply.f. A ballot that a team determines cannot be read by the tabulating equipment or which the tabulating equipment rejects, shall be duplicated under § 5612A of this title.(4) Once mail votes have been recorded, an election judge shall deposit the voted ballots, rejected ballots, and any mail vote tally sheet that may have been used, in a carrier envelope for the election district with whose votes the mail votes are counted as follows: a. Each carrier envelope must contain mail ballots, rejected ballots, and tally sheets for no more than 1 election district.b. Only 1 carrier envelope can be filled at a time.(5) Once a carrier envelope is filled, it must be sealed by an election judge. The election judge shall sign the election judge's name on each sealed carrier envelope, affirming that the election judge sealed the envelope and that the envelope contains ballots for the election district to which the envelope is assigned. Each sealed and signed carrier envelope shall be placed in a secure location and held there until such time as it is destroyed or moved for further legal process.(6) The results of the mail ballots shall not be extracted or reported before the polls have closed on the day of the election.Added by Laws 2021, ch. 353,s 1, eff. 7/22/2022.