20A-4-101. Manual ballots cast at a polling place — Counting manual ballots at polling place on day of election before polls close.
(1)
Each county legislative body, municipal legislative body, and each poll worker shall comply with the requirements of this section when counting manual ballots on the day of an election, if:
Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-4-101
Ballot: means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Counting judge: means a poll worker designated to count the ballots during election day. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Counting room: means a suitable and convenient private place or room for use by the poll workers and counting judges to count ballots. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election: means a regular general election, a municipal general election, a statewide special election, a local special election, a regular primary election, a municipal primary election, and a special district election. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election officer: means :
(a)
the lieutenant governor, for all statewide ballots and elections;
Polling place: means a building where voting is conducted. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Provisional ballot: means a ballot voted provisionally by a person:
(a)
whose name is not listed on the official register at the polling place;
(b)
whose legal right to vote is challenged as provided in this title; or
(c)
whose identity was not sufficiently established by a poll worker. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Voting precinct: means the smallest geographical voting unit, established under 3. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
(a)
the ballots are cast at a polling place; and
(b)
the ballots are counted at the polling place before the polls close.
(2)
(a)
Each county legislative body or municipal legislative body shall provide:
(i)
two sets of ballot boxes for all voting precincts where both receiving and counting judges have been appointed; and
(ii)
a counting room for the use of the poll workers counting the ballots during the day.
(b)
At any election in any voting precinct in which both receiving and counting judges have been appointed, when at least 20 votes have been cast, the receiving judges shall:
(i)
close the first ballot box and deliver it to the counting judges; and
(ii)
prepare and use another ballot box to receive voted ballots.
(c)
Except as provided in Subsection (2)(f), upon receipt of the ballot box, the counting judges shall:
(i)
take the ballot box to the counting room;
(ii)
count the votes on the regular ballots in the ballot box;
(iii)
place the provisional ballot envelopes in the envelope or container provided for them for return to the election officer; and
(iv)
when they have finished counting the votes in the ballot box, return the emptied box to the receiving judges.
(d)
(i)
During the course of election day, whenever there are at least 20 ballots contained in a ballot box, the receiving judges shall deliver that ballot box to the counting judges for counting; and
(ii)
the counting judges shall immediately count the regular ballots and segregate the provisional ballots contained in that box.
(e)
The counting judges shall continue to exchange the ballot boxes and count ballots until the polls close.
(f)
(i)
The director of elections within the Office of the Lieutenant Governor shall make rules in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, describing the procedures that a counting judge is required to follow for counting ballots in an instant runoff voting race under 6.
(ii)
When counting ballots in an instant runoff voting race described in 6, a counting judge shall comply with the procedures established under Subsection (2)(f)(i) and 6.
(3)
To resolve questions that arise during the counting of ballots, a counting judge shall apply the standards and requirements of:
