Missouri Laws 115.299 – Absentee ballots, how counted
1. To count absentee votes on election day, the election authority shall appoint a sufficient number of teams of election judges comprised of an equal number of judges from each major political party.
2. The teams so appointed shall meet on election day after the time fixed by law for the opening of the polls at a central location designated by the election authority. The election authority shall deliver the absentee ballots to the teams, and shall maintain a record of the delivery. The record shall include the number of ballots delivered to each team and shall include a signed receipt from two judges, one from each major political party. The election authority shall provide each team with a ballot box, tally sheets and statements of returns as are provided to a polling place.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 115.299
- Ballot: the paper ballot, or ballot designed for use with an electronic voting system on which each voter may cast all votes to which he or she is entitled at an election. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Major political party: the political party whose candidates received the highest or second highest number of votes at the last general election. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Political party: any established political party and any new party. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- Polling place: the voting place designated for all voters residing in one or more precincts for any election. See Missouri Laws 115.013
- voter: is used in the laws of this state it shall mean registered voter, or legal voter. See Missouri Laws 1.035
3. Each team shall count votes on all absentee ballots designated by the election authority.
4. To process absentee ballots in envelopes, one member of each team, closely observed by another member of the team from a different political party, shall open each envelope and call the voter‘s name in a clear voice. Without unfolding the ballot, two team members, one from each major political party, shall initial the ballot, and an election judge shall place the ballot, still folded, in a ballot box. No ballot box shall be opened until all of the ballots a team is counting have been placed in the box. The votes shall be tallied and the returns made as provided in sections 115.447 to 115.525 for paper ballots. After the votes on all ballots assigned to a team have been counted, the ballots and ballot envelopes shall be enclosed in sealed containers marked “voted absentee ballots and ballot envelopes from the election held ____, 20___”. All rejected absentee ballots and envelopes shall be enclosed and sealed in a separate container marked “rejected absentee ballots and envelopes from the election held ____, 20 ____”. On the outside of each voted ballot and rejected ballot container, each member of the team shall write his or her name, and all such containers shall be returned to the election authority. Upon receipt of the returns and ballots, the election authority shall tabulate the absentee vote along with the votes certified from each polling place in its jurisdiction.