§ 16.1-15-19 — County canvassing board to disregard technicalities, misspelling, and abbreviations - Ballots set aside - Write-in votes canvassed - Votes from unestablished polling places disregarded

abbreviations - Ballots set aside - Write-in votes canvassed - Votes from unestablished
polling places disregarded.
In canvassing the election returns, the county canvassing board shall disregard
technicalities, misspelling, and the use of initial letters or abbreviations of the name of any
candidate for office if it can be ascertained for whom the vote was intended. Under section
16.1-01-04.1, the board shall include in the canvass the votes from any ballot set aside and
subsequently verified by the individual who marked the ballot, and review each envelope
containing an unverified ballot forwarded to the board from the polling place election officials.
The envelopes for all ballots set aside along with the envelopes containing uncounted ballots
from unverified individuals must be kept with all other election materials for the required
retention period under section 16.1-15-13. Under section 16.1-15-01.1, the board shall review
and approve the canvass report of all qualifying write-in votes. The board may not count votes
polled in any place except at established polling places. The county canvassing board is
authorized to initial all absentee ballots cast pursuant to section 16.1-07-09 which were not
considered or counted by the absentee ballot precinct election board and to make a final
determination of eligibility for all ballots that were rejected for the reasons provided in sections
16.1-07-10 and 16.1-07-12.