§ 3-12-3-5 — Damaged or defective ballot card; absentee ballot of absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter; failure of tabulating machine

(a) If a ballot card is damaged or defective so
that it cannot properly be counted by the automatic tabulating
machines, then a remake team composed of one (1) person from each
of the major political parties of the county shall have the card prepared
for processing so as to record accurately the intention of the voter
insofar as it can be ascertained.
(b) If the ballot card voting system is designed to allow the counting
and tabulation of votes by the precinct election board, the members of
the remake team must be members of the precinct election board in
which the ballot was cast. If a county provides for the counting and
tabulation of ballot card voting systems in a central location, the
members of the remake team shall be appointed by the county election
board.
(c) If necessary, a true, duplicate copy shall be made of the damaged
ballot card in the presence of witnesses and substituted for the damaged
card. Similarly, a duplicate ballot card shall be made of a defective
card, not including the uncounted votes.
(d) This subsection applies to an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter permitted to transmit an absentee ballot by fax or
electronic mail under IC 3-11-4-6. To facilitate the transmittal and
return of the voter's absentee ballot by fax or electronic mail, the county
election board may provide the voter with a paper ballot rather than a
ballot card. The paper ballot must conform with the requirements for
paper ballots set forth in IC 3-10 and IC 3-11. After the voter returns
the ballot by fax or electronic mail, a remake team appointed by the
county election board under this section shall prepare a ballot card for
processing that accurately records the intention of the voter as
indicated on the paper ballot. The ballot card created under this
subsection must include the initials of each member of the remake team
and be marked and counted as a duplicate ballot under sections 6
through 7 of this chapter.
(e) If an automatic tabulating machine fails during the counting and
tabulation of votes following the close of the polls, the county election
board shall immediately arrange for the repair and proper functioning
of the system. The county election board may, by unanimous vote of its
entire membership, authorize the counting and tabulation of votes for
this election on an automatic tabulating machine approved for use in
Indiana by the commission:
(1) until the repair and retesting of the malfunctioning machine;
and
(2) whether or not the machine was tested under IC 3-11-13-22.
[Pre-1986 Recodification Citation: 3-2-4-5(c) part.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.5-1986, SEC.8. Amended by P.L.6-1986, SEC.41; P.L.3-1987, SEC.350; P.L.1-1993, SEC.11; P.L.3-1997, SEC.341; P.L.263-2003, SEC.4; P.L.97-2004, SEC.12; P.L.198-2005, SEC.16; P.L.194-2013, SEC.75; P.L.193-2021, SEC.87.