Section 5610 - Counting procedure for mail ballot envelopesAt any time between the 30th calendar day before the election and the closing of the polls on an election day, mail election judges within each county, selected by the administrators of the Department in that county, shall count mail ballot envelopes at the Department's offices in the county as follows:
(1) A mail judge shall select the ballot envelopes in order of the election districts within the county;(2) For each ballot envelope, the mail judges shall ascertain whether a challenge has been made pursuant to this chapter;(3) If a challenge has been made, on election day, the BALLOT ENVELOPE shall be marked as "CHALLENGED" and shall be set aside in a secure location for consideration at a later time as provided elsewhere in this title.(4) If no challenge has been made, the mail 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 and/or whether the elector's intent can be determined pursuant to § 4972 of this title.d. Tally any mail votes that were written-in, or that must be counted by hand pursuant to § 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 as provided for in § 5611 of this title.(5) Once mail votes have been recorded, a mail 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; provided, however, that each carrier envelope shall contain mail ballots, rejected ballots, and tally sheets for no more than one election district and only one carrier envelope shall be filled at a time.(6) Once a carrier envelope is filled, it shall be sealed by a mail judge. The mail judge shall sign the mail judge's name on each sealed carrier envelope, affirming that the mail 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.(7) 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 2019, ch. 245,s 3, eff. 7/1/2020.