§ 17-20-26 - Opening and counting of ballots.
SECTION 17-20-26
§ 17-20-26 Opening and counting ofballots. – (a) Beginning prior to and continuing on election day the state board, uponreceipt of mail ballots, shall keep the ballots in a safe and secure placewhich shall be separate and apart from the general public area, and shall:
(i) Open the outer envelope and attach the matching ballotapplication to the inner certifying envelope;
(ii) Beginning fourteen (14) days prior to and continuing onelection day, proceed to certify the mail ballots.
(2) Notice of these sessions shall be given to the public byannouncements in newspapers of general circulation published at leasttwenty-four (24) hours before the commencing of any session. All candidates forstate and federal office, as well as all state party chairpersons, shall begiven notice by telephone or otherwise of the day on which ballots effectingthat candidate's district will be certified; provided, that failure to effectthe notice shall in no way invalidate the ballots.
(b) This processing shall be done within a railed space inthe room in which it takes place, and the board shall admit within the railedspace, in accordance with those rules that the board shall adopt, to witnessthe processing and certification of the ballots, the interested voter or thevoter's representative, the candidates, or at least one representative of eachcandidate for whom votes are at the time being processed, and an equal numberof representatives of each political party. These representatives shall beauthorized in writing by the voter, the candidate, or the chairperson of thestate committee of the political party, respectively, as the case may be. Theboard shall also, in accordance with these rules, admit representatives of thepress and newscasting agencies and any other persons that it deems proper.
(c) At these sessions, and before certifying any ballot, thestate board shall:
(1) Determine the city or town, in which the voter cast hisor her ballot and classify accordingly; and
(2) Compare the name, residence, and signature of the voterwith the name, residence, and signature on the ballot application for mailballots and satisfy itself that both signatures are identical.
(d) If upon completion of the certification of a mail ballotno objection has been raised against the certification of the ballot, the outerenvelope shall be discarded. However, if an objection has been raised thatentails further consideration and determination by the board, the outerenvelope shall remain attached to the certifying inner envelope foridentification purposes.
(e) The board shall establish guidelines setting forth thegrounds for challenging the certification of mail ballots. These guidelinesshall recognize that if a ballot can be reasonably identified to be that of thevoter it purports to be, and if it can reasonably be determined that the voterwas eligible to vote by mail ballot and if the requirements of § 17-20-2.1were complied with, it should not be subject to frivolous or technicalchallenge. The burden of proof in challenging a mail ballot as not obtainedand/or cast in conformance with this chapter is on the person challenging theballot. Once the irregularity is shown, the burden of proof shall shift to theperson defending the ballot to demonstrate that it is the ballot of the voterit purports to be, that the voter was eligible to vote by mail ballot, and thatall of the applicable requirements of § 17-20-2.1 were complied with. Theguidelines shall be adopted at a public meeting of the board and shall be madeavailable prior to the start of the certification process for mail ballots.
(f) After processing and certification of the mail ballots,they shall be separated in packages in accordance with their respective citiesand towns, in the presence of the board and all other interested parties.Thereupon, in each instance the board shall open the enclosing envelope, andwithout looking at the votes cast on the enclosed ballot, shall remove theballot from the envelope. The state board shall proceed to count the ballots onelection day through the use of a central count optical scan unit with the sameeffect as if the ballots had been cast by the electors in open town or districtmeetings.
(g) When a local election is held at a time other than inconjunction with a statewide election, the state board, after the processingand certification of the mail ballots cast in the local election, shall packagethe local ballots to be promptly delivered in sealed packages, bearing upon theseals the signatures of the members of the board, to the appropriate localboard which shall [a] thereupon proceed to count the ballots in thesame manner and with the same effect as state mail ballots are counted by thestate board.
(h) When a local election is held in New Shoreham at a timeother than in conjunction with a statewide election, the state board, after theprocessing and certification of the mail ballots cast in the local election,shall have the authority to count the ballots in the same manner and with thesame effect as state mail ballots are counted by the state board in a statewideelection. Once the ballots are counted, the results shall be sent via facsimileto the local board in New Shoreham.