Delaware § 5510 - Opening and preparing absentee ballots for tabulation.

§ 5510. Opening and preparing absentee ballots for tabulation.

(a) (1) a. The Department may open ballot envelopes and prepare the ballots for tabulation beginning 30 days before the day of the election at public meetings conducted under § 10004 of Title 29.

b. At the end of every day, and during any pause in the process under this section, all ballots must be placed in secure containers and stored in locked cabinets until opened in a subsequent public meeting for the completion of processing under this section.

(2) The Department shall notify each party with a candidate on the ballot that they may have challengers present at the public meetings under paragraph (a)(1)a. of this section.

(b) The Department shall appoint teams of election judges (election judges) to fulfill the duties under this section. No more than half of the judges on a team may have the same party affiliation, as recorded in each individual’s voter registration record.

(c) The election judges shall select ballot envelopes in order of election districts within the county and check them off against the list of absentee voters. For each ballot envelope, the election judges shall ascertain whether a challenge has been made under this title.

(d) Ballots that are not challenged shall then be separated from the ballot envelopes and the ballot envelopes shall be separately stored in a secure location.

(1) If the election judges determines that an original ballot will not be readable by the tabulating equipment, they shall duplicate the ballot as follows:

a. The election judges shall assign the same unique identifier to the original ballot and the duplicate ballot.

b. The election judges shall duplicate the original ballot by marking the duplicate ballot according to the voter’s intent as shown on the ballot marked by the voter. If the election judges cannot determine a voter’s intent, the election judges shall consult the county director and county deputy director for advice and guidance on how to adjudicate the votes on the ballot under § 4972 of this title.

c. After the election judges have duplicated any ballots necessary for an election district, the election judges shall put the original ballots in a separate, secure container to be securely stored. The duplicate ballot must be placed with all other ballots for the same election district for further processing.

(2) If a ballot contains a write-in vote, the election judges shall record the proper notations for write-in votes in the election records for the election district in which an absentee voter is registered to vote.

(e) When the election judges have completed the steps under subsections (c) through (d) of this section, the election judges shall scan the ballots for tabulation using the ballot scanning devices located in the county elections office.

(f) (1) After the completion of the process under this section, the election judges shall do all of the following:

a. Secure the ballots in a secure container.

b. Seal the secure container.

c. Each election judge must sign their name on the outside of the secure container, affirming that the election judges sealed the container and that the container contains ballots for the election district to which the container is assigned.

(2) A secure container under paragraph (f)(1) of this section must contain absentee ballots for no more than 1 election district and only 1 secure container may be filled at a time. Each signed and sealed container must be placed in a secure location until such time as it is required to be moved or destroyed under § 4980 of this title or other legal process.

(g) The results of the absentee ballots must not be reported before the polls have closed on the day of the election.

75 Del. Laws, c. 149, §  1;  70 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  1;  75 Del. Laws, c. 427, §§  10, 11;  77 Del. Laws, c. 227, §  1;  78 Del. Laws, c. 304, §  8;  79 Del. Laws, c. 275, §  89;  81 Del. Laws, c. 106, § 5;  84 Del. Laws, c. 106, § 2;  85 Del. Laws, c. 313, § 4;