Oklahoma Regulations § 230:45-5-19 Counters shall observe rules

Regulation Text

When manually recounting ballots that were originally counted by electronic voting devices, the law concerning the counting of ballots by voting devices shall be applied to the manual count. Counters shall observe the following rules in counting all ballots:

(1) Ballots must be marked in blue or black ink or in pencil. If not, they cannot be counted.

(2) Any marking in the voting target shall be a valid marking. The voting target is the rectangle that appears to the left of each candidate's name, each option on a question, and each party emblem in the "straight party" voting option.

(3) If there is any writing on the ballot, the ballot still can be counted for any office or question thereon.

(4) Any mark extending outside the voting target into another voting target cannot be counted.

(5) Marks used to designate the intention of the voter shall not be counted if they are not located in the voting target. [26:7-127(3)]

(6) Failure to vote for any candidate for a particular office shall not invalidate valid markings for candidates or other offices on the same ballot. [26:7-127(5)]

(7) A valid marking in the voting target beside the emblem of a political party shall be counted as a vote for each candidate of that party on the ballot. [26:7-127(6)]

(8) If a valid marking is marked in the voting target beside emblems of two or more parties, then the ballot cannot be counted for any partisan candidate on that ballot. [26:7-127(6)]

(9) If a valid marking is marked in the voting target beside the emblem of Political Party A, and a valid marking is marked in the voting target beside the name of a candidate of Political Party B, then one vote shall be recorded for each candidate of Political Party A except for the office in which the vote was recorded for the individual candidate of Political Party B. [26:7-127(6)] That individual candidate of Political Party B shall receive one vote. Such a ballot is valid because a vote for the candidate shall supersede the vote for the party.

(10) If valid markings are made in the voting targets beside the names of two candidates for the same office, the ballot cannot be counted for any candidate for that office. An overvote shall be recorded for this race. However, the ballot may be counted for candidates for other offices which are validly marked.

(11) If a ballot has not been marked for any candidate in a particular race or question, no vote shall be counted for any candidate in the race and an undervote shall be recorded for the race. If a ballot is completely blank and no votes have been marked for any race or question, no votes shall be recorded for any race or question on the ballot. An undervote shall be recorded for every race and question on the ballot.

(12) Ballots that have been torn shall be counted if it is possible to determine how the voter marked the ballot.

Source

Amended at 10 Ok Reg 2751, eff 7-1-93 ; Amended at 30 Ok Reg 1722, eff 7-15-13

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