At any time between the opening and the closing of the polls on an election day, absentee election judges selected by a municipality’s board of elections, shall count absentee ballots at a properly noticed public meeting in the municipality’s offices or at the place of the election, at the municipality’s discretion, in accordance with the procedures set out below. Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, at the discretion of the municipality, the board of elections may itself act as the absentee election judges.
(1) The municipality’s board of elections shall appoint a sufficient number of teams of absentee election judges, each consisting of an odd number of electors, to open and tally the absentee ballots before the close of the polls. The board of elections shall be responsible for deciding all challenges and overseeing the process.
(2) The municipality shall provide a list of persons who have returned absentee ballots for review by the public and challengers at the meeting. Challenges must be made prior to the opening of the ballot envelope for the voter being challenged.
(3) If a person has challenged an absentee voter as provided in § 7557(d)(5) of this title, an absentee election judge shall give that person’s ballot envelope to the board of elections who shall then hear the evidence and decide the challenge. If the board of elections upholds the challenge, the chairperson shall write the word “CHALLENGED” on the ballot envelope, the reason for the challenge and then sign the chairperson’s own name. When the challenge is denied, the ballot envelope shall be returned to the team to be opened and counted. The board of elections, after the close of the polls, shall seal the ballot envelopes for all voters who were successfully challenged in a carrier envelope along with a log sheet showing the serial number of the carrier envelope.
(4) Where absentee ballots have been prepared for counting in advance of the opening of the polls in accordance with § 7579 of this title and are in a carrier envelope, the absentee election judges, upon opening a carrier envelope, shall verify that the serial number on the log sheet is the same as the serial number on the carrier envelope. If the numbers are not the same, the judges shall report the discrepancy to the board of elections and then follow the instructions of the board regarding that carrier envelope. If there are no discrepancies or the discrepancy has been resolved, the team shall remove the ballots from the carrier envelope.
(5) Where the ballots are in the ballot envelopes, a team of absentee election judges shall:
a. Check the ballot envelopes against the list of absentee voters. The teams shall not process any ballot envelopes that the municipality has not listed as returned on the list of absentee voters until the discrepancy has been resolved to the board of election’s satisfaction.
b. Reject ballot envelopes that the voter did not sign or seal, or for a voter who is known to be dead. An absentee election judge shall print the word “REJECTED” and the reason for the rejection on the front of the ballot envelope and then at least 2 of the absentee elections judges shall initial beside the entry.
c. Open each ballot envelope in such a manner as not to deface or destroy the self-administered statement thereon or the absentee ballot enclosed and then remove the ballot in such manner as to avoid seeing the markings thereon from the ballot envelope. If there is no ballot in the ballot envelope or if there is more than 1 ballot in a ballot envelope, an absentee election judge shall write the word “REJECTED” and the reason for the rejection on the front of the ballot envelope and then at least 2 absentee elections judges shall initial beside the entries. In the case where there was more than 1 ballot in a ballot envelope, the team shall put the ballots back into the ballot envelope.
d. Once an absentee ballot judge has removed a ballot from a ballot envelope, the judge shall put it face down on the table without examining it. The team shall open ballot envelopes until they have a sufficient number of ballots and ballot envelopes to fill a carrier envelope, create a predetermined batch, or they have opened all of the ballot envelopes for a municipal election district or the election, whichever occurs first. The team shall then shuffle the ballots and then proceed to tally the votes for that group of ballots.
(6) The team of absentee election judges shall then tally the votes for a group of ballots on absentee vote tally sheets with one 1 person reading the votes and 2 others tallying the votes on separate absentee vote tally sheets. Once the team has tallied a group of ballots, they shall verify that the results on both absentee vote tally sheet are the same. If the results are not the same, the team shall re-tally the votes until the result is the same. During the tally process, the team shall:
a. Attempt to determine the voter’s intent pursuant to § 4972 of this title in the event that a voter did not mark the ballot as instructed; and
b. Tally votes for write-in candidates on the absentee vote tally sheets if the municipality’s charter or code permits write-in votes.
(7) Once a team has tallied the absentee votes for a group of ballots, the members shall sign both copies of the absentee vote tally sheet and then put the voted ballots, rejected ballots, ballot envelopes, and 1 copy of the absentee vote tally sheet into a carrier envelope. The team shall then complete the log sheet showing the serial number of the carrier envelope, put the log sheet into the carrier envelope and then seal the carrier envelope. The team shall then give the carrier envelope and the second copy of the absentee vote tally sheet to the board of elections.
(8) Upon receipt of a carrier envelope and the second copy of the absentee vote tally sheet for that carrier envelope, the board of elections shall:
a. Put the carrier envelope in a secure location until such time it is needed for a recount, legal action, or is to be destroyed as provided in this chapter; and
b. Record the results from the absentee vote tally sheet onto a master absentee vote tally sheet for the election. After the board of elections has received all of the absentee vote tally sheets and has entered the results for each candidate on the master absentee vote tally sheet, the board shall total the votes for each candidate and then, after the polls have closed, enter the results on the vote tabulation for the election. The board of elections shall then seal the absentee vote tally sheet or sheets in a carrier envelope along with a log sheet showing the serial number of the carrier envelope.
(9) Ballot envelopes received after the ballots have been counted or the ballots for a specific municipal election district have been counted shall be opened and tallied in accordance with the above procedure except that they all shall be sealed in 1 or more carrier envelopes, as necessary, after the polls have closed.
(10) The teams shall repeat the above process as many times as necessary in order to count the absentee ballots.
(11) A municipality that permits absentee voting shall establish a procedure to insure that persons who voted by absentee ballot shall not be permitted to vote at a polling place on the day of the election.
(12) Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, when the number of absentee ballots returned to the municipality is less than 5, the municipality may develop a counting procedure protective of the secrecy of the ballot.