The precinct election officials shall reject a ballot if the ballot includes an identifying mark. The following marks shall be considered to be identifying marks:
If the ballot has an identifying mark, the precinct election officials shall mark the ballot "Defective due to identifying mark." The precinct officials in precincts where optical scan voting equipment is used shall tally the votes on all ballots with identifying marks. All of the precinct election officials shall sign the tally. They shall include the tally of ballots with identifying marks in the tally list. The officials shall return the ballots with identifying marks to the commissioner in the envelope or container for disputed ballots as required by Iowa Code section 50.5.
Iowa Admin. Code r. 721-26.14