(a) The Department may open ballot envelopes and prepare the ballots for tabulation as set forth in this section in public meetings beginning 30 days before the day of the election. The Department shall notify each party on the ballot that they may have challengers present at the meetings. The challengers may challenge ballots as provided elsewhere in this title. (b) The Department shall appoint teams of election judges to fulfill the duties set forth in this section. No more than half of the judges on a team may be registered with any 1 party. A single team may not handle or process ballots or ballot envelopes for more than 1 election district at a time. (c) The teams 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 pursuant to this chapter. (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 a team determines that an original ballot will not be readable by the tabulating equipment, it shall duplicate the ballot as follows: a. The team shall assign the same unique identifier to the original ballot and the duplicate ballot. b. The team 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 a team cannot determine a voter's intent, they shall consult the county director and deputy county director for advice and guidance. c. After the team has duplicated any ballots necessary for an election district, the team shall put the original ballots in a separate envelope to be securely stored. The duplicate ballot shall be placed with all other ballots for the same election district for further processing. (2) If a ballot contains a write-in vote, the team shall record the proper notations of such votes in the election records for the election district in which an absentee voter is registered to vote. (e) When a team has completed the steps set forth in subsections (c) and (d) of this section, a team 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 set forth in this section, the teams shall secure the ballots in a carrier envelope, seal the carrier envelope, and each member of the team shall sign the member's name on the outside of the carrier envelope, affirming that the team sealed the envelope and that the envelope contains ballots for the election district to which the envelope is assigned. Each carrier envelope must contain absentee ballots for no more than 1 election district and only 1 carrier envelope may be filled at a time. Each signed and sealed envelope shall 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. (2) At the end of every day, and during any pause in the process set forth in this section, all ballots shall be secured in carrier envelopes and be stored in locked cabinets until opened in a subsequent public meeting for the completion of processing under this section. (g) The results of the absentee ballots shall not be extracted or reported before the polls have closed on the day of the election.
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