A. At 10:00 a.m. on Thursday preceding the election, or at such time thereafter as the secretary of the county election board may desire, the county election board may meet and publicly remove the outer envelopes from all absentee ballots then received, examine and remove properly executed affidavits and place the plain opaque envelopes in a ballot box, locked with three locks. The procedure shall be repeated until such time as all ballots have been received. Provided, such procedure may begin at an earlier date upon the written approval of the Secretary of the State Election Board. B. 1. The county election board may designate one or more special absentee voting boards to conduct the removal of outer envelopes and examination of affidavits described in subsection A of this section. A special absentee voting board shall consist of two members, neither of whom shall be of the same political party. Members of a special absentee voting board shall be designated by the county election board from a list provided by the secretary of the county election board. Members of a special absentee voting board shall meet the same eligibility requirements as a precinct judge or clerk and shall receive the same compensation as a nursing home absentee voting board. 2. The public shall have the right to be present when a special absentee voting board conducts the removal of outer envelopes and examination of affidavits, but these duties are not required to be performed during a public meeting of the county election board. 3. A special absentee voting board so designated shall organize the absentee ballot affidavits they have examined into three groups: a. those the special absentee voting board agrees are properly executed, b. those the special absentee voting board agrees are not properly executed, and c. those absentee ballot affidavits about which the special absentee voting board members do not agree. Each group shall be reported to the county election board at a public meeting of the board. 4. For absentee ballot affidavits that the special absentee voting board agrees are properly executed, upon approval of the county election board, the affidavits shall be removed and the plain opaque envelopes shall be eligible to be counted pursuant to law. 5. For absentee ballots that the special absentee voting board agrees are not properly executed pursuant to law, the county election board shall review the affidavits and make a determination as to whether the affidavits should be accepted or rejected pursuant to law. 6. For absentee ballot affidavits on which the special absentee voting board cannot agree about a properly executed affidavit, the county election board shall review the affidavits and make a determination as to whether the affidavits should be accepted or rejected pursuant to law. C. When an examination of an absentee ballot affidavit is made to determine whether it has been properly executed, such determination shall be based only upon the requirements found in this title for the type of absentee ballot affidavit being examined. No person making such a determination shall substitute his or her own personal preference or judgment in place of the requirements provided by law. Added by Laws 1974, c. 201, § 23, operative July 1, 1974. Renumbered from § 327.23 of this title by Laws 1976, c. 90, § 11, emerg. eff. May 6, 1976. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 316, § 12, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 2003, c. 485, § 21; Laws 2013, c. 200, § 10, eff. Nov. 1, 2013; Laws 2020, c. 151, § 11, emerg. eff. May 21, 2020.
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