§ 16-550 — Receipt of voter's ballot; cure period; tracking system

A. Except for early ballots tabulated as prescribed in section 16-579.02 or, beginning in 2026, received at a voting location after a voter's identification is confirmed as prescribed by section 16-579, subsection A, paragraph 4, on receipt of the envelope containing the early ballot and the mail affidavit, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall compare the signature on the envelope with the signature of the elector on the elector's registration record as prescribed by section 16-550.01. If the signature is inconsistent with the elector's signature on the elector's registration record, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall make reasonable efforts to contact the voter, advise the voter of the inconsistent signature and allow the voter to correct or the county to confirm the inconsistent signature. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall allow signatures to be corrected not later than the fifth business day after a primary, general or special election that includes a federal office or the third business day after any other election. If the election is a primary, general or special election that includes a federal office and there are outstanding ballots that require identification or ballot signatures to be corrected or confirmed, in addition to the office's regular business hours, the county recorder's and any city or town clerks' offices that have an agreement with a county to be used as locations at which a voter may submit proof of identification shall be open during regular business hours to allow for curing signatures during the Friday and weekend before and the Friday and weekend after the election. Regular business hours include at a minimum 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. If there are no ballots remaining that require identification or signatures to be cured, the county recorder and city and town clerks are not required to be open during the weekend. If the signature is missing, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall make reasonable efforts to contact the elector, advise the elector of the missing signature and allow the elector to add the elector's signature not later than 7:00 p.m. on election day. If satisfied that the signatures correspond, the recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall hold the envelope containing the early ballot and the completed mail affidavit unopened in accordance with the rules of the secretary of state. Signatures that cannot be verified pursuant to section 16-550.01 or cured pursuant to this section shall be rejected. If the ballot is a conditional provisional ballot, the voter shall provide proof of identification to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections not later than the fifth business day after a primary, general or special election that includes a federal office or the third business day after any other election. Beginning with the first missing or mismatched signature that is identified after the period of early voting begins through the Monday immediately preceding the election, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall submit daily to the political parties that are qualified for continued representation on the state ballot an updated list of all voters whose signatures are missing or inconsistent with the voter's signature on the voter's registration record. Beginning on the Wednesday immediately following the election through the end of the signature cure period after a primary, general or special election that includes a federal office, or the third business day after the election for any other election, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall submit daily to the political parties that are qualified for continued representation on the state ballot an updated list of all voters whose signatures are inconsistent with the voter's signature on the voter's registration record and all voters who voted with a conditional provisional ballot. This list of voters whose signatures require curing shall include for those voters all voter information that is provided to the political parties that are qualified for continued representation on the state ballot as prescribed by section 16-168.

B. The recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall thereafter safely keep the mail affidavits and early ballots in the recorder's or other officer's office and may deliver them for tallying pursuant to section 16-551.

C. Processing and tabulation of individual ballots may begin immediately after the envelope and completed mail affidavit are processed pursuant to this section and delivered to the early election board and shall continue without delay until completed. Until election day, the early election board and the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall:

1. Not access an aggregated complete results file of early voting and vote by mail ballots that were processed and tabulated by the end of the early voting period.

2. Not produce for internal or external use an aggregated results report or associated files of complete results.

3. Only produce a partial results report or associated files if it is part of the internal preparation for the hand count pursuant to section 16-602 or for the logic and accuracy testing required pursuant to section 16-449.

4. Not publicly release complete or partial results, whether for internal or external use, until all precincts have reported or one hour after the closing of the polls on election day, whichever is earlier.

D. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall post on its website within forty-eight hours after all ballot tabulation is complete all system log files and other similar files from the election management system that verify compliance with subsection C of this section.

E. The county recorder shall send a list of all voters who were issued early ballots to the election board of the precinct in which the voter is registered.

F. For a county that uses early ballots, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide an early ballot tracking system that indicates whether the voter's early ballot has been received and whether the early ballot has been verified and sent to be tabulated or rejected. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide voters with access to the early ballot tracking system on the county's website.

G. This section does not apply to:

1. A special taxing district that is authorized pursuant to section 16-191 to conduct its own elections.

2. A special district mail ballot election that is conducted pursuant to article 8.1 of this chapter.