TrustVoting Atlas

(1) All proceedings at the counting center shall be under the direction of the commissioners
of elections or officials in charge of the election, and shall be conducted under the observations
of the public, but no persons except those authorized for the purpose shall touch any ballot. All
persons who are engaged in processing and counting of the ballots shall be deputized in writing
and take oath that they will faithfully perform their assigned duties.
(2) The commissioners of elections or the officials in charge of the election shall appoint
qualified electors who have received the training required by subsection (11) of this section to
serve as judges on the "resolution board." An odd number of not less than three (3) members
shall be appointed to the resolution board. The members of the board shall take the oath provided
in Section 268, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. All ballots that have been rejected by the OMR
tabulating equipment and that are damaged or defective, blank or overvoted will be reviewed by
said board. Commissioners of election, candidates who are on the ballot at the election and the
parents, siblings or children of such a candidate shall not be appointed to the resolution board. If
the election is not a primary election, members of the party executive committees shall not be
appointed to the resolution board unless members of all of the party executive committees who
have a candidate on the ballot are appointed to the resolution board.
(3) (a) If any ballot is damaged or defective so that it cannot be properly counted by the
OMR tabulating equipment, the ballot will be deposited in an envelope provided for that purpose
marked "RESOLUTION BOARD." All such ballots shall be carefully handled so as to avoid
altering, removing or adding any mark on the ballot.
(b) The commissioners of election or the officials in charge of the election shall have the
judges on the resolution board manually count any damaged or defective ballots, who shall
determine the intent of the voter and record the vote consistent with this determination.
(c) As an alternative to the procedure provided for in paragraph (b) of this subsection, the
resolution board may be instructed by the officials in charge of the election to prepare a duplicate
to the damaged or defective ballot in the following manner:
(i) The resolution board shall prepare a duplicate to the original damaged or defective ballot
marked identically to the original.
(ii) The resolution board shall mark the first original they examine as "Original #1" and the
duplicate of this original as "Duplicate #1." Subsequent originals and duplicates shall be likewise
marked and numbered consecutively so the duplicate of each original can be identified.
Duplicate ballots shall be stamped in a different manner from the original ballots so that they
may be easily distinguished from the originals.
(iii) The duplicate ballots prepared pursuant to this paragraph shall be counted by the OMR
tabulating equipment.
(4) Ballots that have been rejected by the OMR tabulating equipment for appearing to be
"blank" shall be examined to verify if they are blank or were marked with a "nondetectable"
marking device. If it is determined that the ballot was marked with a nondetectable device, the
resolution board may mark over the voter's mark with a detectable marking device.
(5) All ballots that are rejected by the OMR tabulating equipment and which contain
overvotes shall be inspected by the resolution board. Regarding those ballots upon which an
overvote appears and voter intent cannot be determined by inspection of the resolution board, the
officials in charge of the election may use the OMR tabulating equipment in determining the
vote in the races which are unaffected by the overvote. All other ballots which are overvoted
shall be counted manually following the provisions of this section at the direction of the officials
in charge of the election. If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the
ballots with the OMR tabulating equipment, the officials in charge may direct that they be
counted manually, and voter intent shall be determined by following the provisions of this
section. The return printed by the OMR tabulating equipment to which have been added the
manually tallied ballots, which shall be duly certified by the officials in charge of the election,
shall constitute the official return of each voting precinct. Unofficial and incomplete returns may
be released during the count. Upon the completion of the counting, the official returns shall be
open to the public.
(6) When the resolution board reviews any OMR ballot in which the voter has failed to fill in
the arrow, oval, circle or square for a candidate or a ballot measure in accordance with the ballot
instruction, the resolution board shall, if the intent of the voter can be ascertained, count the vote
if:
(a)
The
voter
marks
the
ballot
with
a
"cross"
(X)
or
"checkmark"
(
⊂/σπαν>) ανδ τηε λινεσ τηατ φορµ τηε µαρκ ιντερσεχτ ωιτηιν ορ ον τηε λινε οφ τηε αρροω, οϖαλ, χιρχλ
ε ορ σθυαρε βψ τηε βαλλοτ µεασυρε ορ τηε ναµε οφ τηε χανδιδατε.
(b) The voter blackens the arrow, oval, circle or square adjacent to the ballot measure or the
name of the candidate in pencil or ink and the blackened portion extends beyond the boundaries
of the arrow, oval, circle or square.
(c)
The
voter
marks
the
ballot
with
a
"cross"
(X)
or
"checkmark"
(
⊂/σπαν>) ανδ τηε λινεσ τηατ φορµ τηε µαρκ ιντερσεχτ αδϕαχεντ το τηε βαλλοτ µεασυρε ορ τηε ναµε οφ
τηε χανδιδατε.
(d) The voter underlines the ballot measure or the name of a candidate.
(e) The voter draws a line from the arrow, oval, circle or square to a ballot measure or the
name of a candidate.
(f) The voter draws a circle or oval around the ballot measure or the name of the candidate.
(g) The voter draws a circle or oval around the arrow, oval, circle or square adjacent to the
ballot measure or the name of the candidate.
(7) The resolution board, when inspecting an OMR ballot which contains or appears to
contain one or more overvotes, appears to be damaged or defective, or is rejected by the OMR
tabulating equipment for any reason or cannot be counted by the OMR tabulating equipment,
shall make its determination in accordance with the following:
(a) When an elector casts more votes for any office or measure than he or she is entitled to
cast at an election, all the elector's votes for that office or measure are invalid and the elector is
deemed to have voted for none of them except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection. If
an elector casts less votes for any office or measure than he or she is entitled to cast at an
election, all votes cast by the elector shall be counted but no vote shall be counted more than
once.
(b) If an elector casts more than one (1) vote for the same candidate for the same office, the
first vote is valid and the remaining votes are invalid.
(c) No write-in vote for a candidate whose name is printed on the ballot shall be regarded as
defective due to misspelling a candidate's name, or by abbreviation, addition or omission or use
of a wrong initial in the name, as long as the intent of the voter can be ascertained.
(d) In any case where a voter writes in the name of a candidate for President of the United
States whose name is printed on the general election ballot, the failure by the voter to write in the
name of a candidate for the Office of Vice President of the United States on the general election
ballot does not invalidate the elector's vote for the slate of electors for any candidate whose name
is written in for the Office of President of the United States.
(e) For any ballot measure in which the words "for" or "against" are printed on a ballot, if the
voter shall write the word "for" or the word "against" instead of or in addition to marking the
ballot in accordance with the ballot instruction in the space adjacent to the preprinted words "for"
or "against," the resolution board shall, in reviewing such ballot, count the vote in accordance
with the voter's handwritten preference, unless the voter marks the ballot in the space adjacent to
the preprinted words "for" or "against" contrary to the handwritten preference, in which case no
vote shall be recorded for such ballot in regard to the ballot measure.
(f) For any ballot measure in which the words "yes" or "no" are printed on a ballot, if the
voter shall write the word "yes" or the word "no" instead of or in addition to marking the ballot
in accordance with the ballot instructions in the space adjacent to the preprinted words "yes" or
"no," the resolution board shall, in reviewing such ballot, count the vote in accordance with the
voter's handwritten preference, unless the voter marks the ballot in the space adjacent to the
preprinted words "yes" or "no" contrary to the handwritten preference, in which case no vote
shall be recorded for such ballot in regard to the ballot measure.
(8) OMR tabulating equipment shall be programmed, calibrated, adjusted and set up to reject
ballot cards that appear to be damaged or defective. Any switch, lever or feature on OMR
tabulating equipment that enables or permits the OMR tabulating equipment to override the
rejection of damaged or defective ballot cards so that such cards will not be reviewed by the
resolution board, shall not be utilized.
(9) Ballots shall be manually counted by the resolution board only when the ballots are:
(a) Properly before the resolution board due to being rejected by the OMR tabulating
equipment because the ballots appear to be damaged or defective or are rejected by the OMR
equipment for any other reason; or
(b) Properly before the resolution board due to a malfunction in the OMR tabulating
equipment.
(10) The resolution board shall make and keep a record regarding the handling and counting
of all ballots inspected under this section.
(11) Qualified electors who are appointed to serve as members of the resolution board shall
be required to have the training required for election managers pursuant to Section 23-15-239.