In canvassing the election returns, the county canvassing board shall disregard technicalities, misspelling, and the use of initial letters or abbreviations of the name of any candidate for office if it can be ascertained for whom the vote was intended. Under section 16.1-01-04.1, the board shall include in the canvass the votes from any ballot set aside and subsequently verified by the individual who marked the ballot, and review each envelope containing an unverified ballot forwarded to the board from the polling place election officials.

The envelopes for all ballots set aside along with the envelopes containing uncounted ballots from unverified individuals must be kept with all other election materials for the required retention period under section 16.1-15-13. Under section 16.1-15-01.1, the board shall review and approve the canvass report of all qualifying write-in votes. The board may not count votes polled in any place except at established polling places. The county canvassing board is authorized to initial all absentee ballots cast pursuant to section 16.1-07-09 which were not considered or counted by the absentee ballot precinct election board and to make a final determination of eligibility for all ballots that were rejected for the reasons provided in section 16.1-07-10 and 16.1-07-12.