§ 20A-4-105 — Standards and requirements for evaluating voter's ballot choice.

Utah § 20A-4-105

• Jurisdiction: Utah
• Title 20A: Election Code
• Ch. 20A-4: Election Returns and Election Contests
• Part 20A-4-1: Counting Ballots and Tabulating Results

Text

(1) (1)(a) An election officer shall ensure that when a question arises regarding a vote recorded on a manual ballot, two counting judges jointly adjudicate the ballot, except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(1)(b) If the counting judges disagree on the disposition of a vote recorded on a ballot that is adjudicated under this section, the counting judges may not count the vote.
(1)(c) An election officer shall store adjudicated ballots separately from other ballots to enable a court to review the ballots if the election is challenged in court.
(2) Except as provided in Subsection (10), Subsection 20A-3a-204(7), or Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, if a voter marks more names than there are individuals to be elected to an office, or if the counting judges cannot determine a voter's choice for an office, the counting judges may not count the voter's vote for that office.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, the counting judges shall count a defective or incomplete mark on a manual ballot if:
(3)(a) the defective or incomplete mark is in the proper place; and
(3)(b) there is no other mark or cross on the ballot indicating the voter's intent to vote other than as indicated by the incomplete or defective mark.
(4) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, the counting judges may not reject a ballot marked by the voter because of marks on the ballot other than those marks allowed by this section unless the extraneous marks on a ballot show an intent by an individual to mark the individual's ballot so that the individual's ballot can be identified.
(5) (5)(a) In counting the ballots, the counting judges shall give full consideration to the intent of the voter.
(5)(b) The counting judges may not invalidate a ballot because of mechanical or technical defects in voting or failure on the part of the voter to follow strictly the rules for balloting required by Chapter 3a, Voting.
(6) The counting judges may not reject a ballot because of an error in:
(6)(a) stamping or writing an official endorsement; or
(6)(b) delivering the wrong ballots to a polling place.
(7) The counting judges may not count a manual ballot that does not have the official endorsement by an election officer.
(8) The counting judges may not count a ballot proposition vote or candidate vote for which the voter is not legally entitled to vote, as defined in Section 20A-4-107.
(9) If the counting judges discover that the name of a candidate is misspelled on a ballot, or that the initial letters of a candidate's given name are transposed or omitted in whole or in part on a ballot, the counting judges shall count a voter's vote for the candidate if it is apparent that the voter intended to vote for the candidate.
(10) The counting judges shall count a vote for the president and the vice president of any political party as a vote for the presidential electors selected by the political party.
(11) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, in counting the valid write-in votes, if, by casting a valid write-in vote, a voter has cast more votes for an office than that voter is entitled to vote for that office, the counting judges shall count the valid write-in vote as being the obvious intent of the voter.

Legislative History

Amended by Chapter 381, 2025 General Session