2.10.1 Ballot Counting
1. As soon as the polls are closed the chief judge and judges shall, without adjournment or postponement, count the ballots. The counting of ballots at the precinct shall be continuous until completed.
2. Counting procedures shall include:
• taking steps to cause the voting equipment to tabulate the results of the voting site;
• hand-counting write-in votes that have been diverted inside the ballot box; and
• hand-counting any ballots that cannot be tabulated.
3. The chief judge, along with a judge of another political party, shall “close the polls” on each voting unit. More than one voting unit may be counted at the same time by the precinct officials, assistants, and ballot counters, but the chief judge and judges shall supervise the counting of all units and shall be responsible for them.
4. In addition to “closing the polls” on the voting equipment, the judges shall also open the ballot box and remove all voted ballots. If a tabulator has a diverter, ballots that were diverted due to write-in votes and ballots that were placed in the emergency bin must be kept separate from the ballots that were tabulated.
5. From the time the first unit is read or opened and the count of votes is begun until the votes are counted and the statement of returns made out, signed, certified and provided to the chief judge or judge responsible for delivering them to the county board office, the precinct chief judge and judges shall not separate, nor shall any one of them leave the voting place except in case of unavoidable necessity. An event or circumstance that constitutes “unavoidable necessity” is determined by the chief judge.
6. Vote counting at the precinct shall be conducted with the participation of precinct officials of all political parties then present.
7. Any member of the public who wishes to witness the vote count at any level shall be allowed to do so. No witness shall interfere with the orderly counting of the official ballots. Witnesses shall not participate in the official counting of official ballots. The precinct facility shall not be locked or otherwise restricted in a way that prevents public access to the count.
8. Voted ballots are to be treated as confidential. The public may not handle voted ballots.
9. At the conclusion of the precinct count, the chief judge or his or her designee shall announce the results at the precinct. The results shall be noted as unofficial results.
10. The judges of election shall print two copies of the results tape. Each of the judges must sign both copies of the tape.
11. If write-in votes are counted at the voting site, the judges of election must record the write-in results on a Write-in Tally Sheet. The tally sheet must then be signed by each of the judges.
12. To count write-ins, the election officials must assemble a bipartisan ballot counting team to call, mark, review and tally the votes.
13. If any paper ballots cannot be tabulated due to equipment error and the ballots are hand-counted at the voting site, the judges of election must record the results on a Hand-Count Tally Sheet.
14. To hand-tally ballots that could not be tabulated, the election officials must assemble a bipartisan ballot counting team to call, mark, review and tally the votes.
15. Once signed, results tape shall be given to the chief judge for return to the board of elections. The second signed results tape must be placed in a self-addressed envelope and given to one of the assistant judges for return to the board of elections office by mail. If possible, the second tape should be placed in a U.S. mailbox on election night.
16. The results tapes from each unit, the Write-in Tally Sheet and the Hand-Count Tally Sheet shall be placed in an Official Precinct Returns Envelope.
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