52.37 - SPECIAL PRECINCT TABULATION PROCEDURE.
52.37 SPECIAL PRECINCT TABULATION PROCEDURE.
The tabulation of absentee and provisional ballots cast by means
of an optical scan voting system shall be conducted as follows:
1. a. If any ballot is found damaged or defective, so that it
cannot be counted properly by the automatic tabulating equipment, a
true duplicate shall be made by the resolution board team and
substituted for the damaged or defective ballot, or, as an
alternative, the valid votes on a defective ballot may be manually
counted by the special precinct election board, whichever method is
best suited to the system being used. All duplicate ballots shall be
clearly labeled as such, and shall bear a serial number which shall
also be recorded on the damaged or defective ballot.
b. The special precinct election board shall also tabulate
any write-in votes which were cast. Write-in votes cast for a
candidate whose name appears on the ballot for the same office shall
be counted as a vote for the candidate indicated, if the vote is
otherwise properly cast.
c. Ballots which are rejected by the tabulating equipment as
blank because they have been marked with an unreadable marker shall
be duplicated or tabulated as required by this subsection for damaged
or defective ballots. The commissioner may instruct the special
precinct election board to mark over voters' unreadable marks using a
marker compatible with the tabulating equipment. The special
precinct election board shall take care to leave part of the original
mark made by the voter. If it is impossible to mark over the
original marks made by the voter without completely obliterating
them, the ballot shall be duplicated.
2. The record printed by the automatic tabulating equipment, with
the addition of a record of any write-in or other votes manually
counted pursuant to this chapter, shall constitute the official
return of the absentee ballot and special voter's precinct. Upon
completion of the tabulation of the votes, the result shall be
announced and reported in substantially the manner required by
section 50.11.
3. If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or any
part of the ballots with the automatic tabulating equipment, the
commissioner may direct that they be counted manually, in accordance
with chapter 50 so far as applicable. Section History: Early Form
[C77, 79, 81, § 52.37] Section History: Recent Form
92 Acts, ch 1034, § 2; 93 Acts, ch 143, § 29; 97 Acts, ch 170, §
65; 2002 Acts, ch 1134, §60, 115; 2007 Acts, ch 190, §39; 2008 Acts,
ch 1032, §156
Referred to in § 52.33