Standards and requirements for evaluating voter's ballot choice.

Checkout our iOS App for a better way to browser and research.



  • (1)
    • (a) An election officer shall ensure that when a question arises regarding a vote recorded on a manual ballot, two counting judges jointly adjudicate the ballot, except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, in accordance with the requirements of this section.
    • (b) If the counting judges disagree on the disposition of a vote recorded on a ballot that is adjudicated under this section, the counting judges may not count the vote.
  • (2) Except as provided in Subsection (10), Subsection 20A-3a-204(6), or Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, if a voter marks more names than there are individuals to be elected to an office, or if the counting judges cannot determine a voter's choice for an office, the counting judges may not count the voter's vote for that office.
  • (3) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, the counting judges shall count a defective or incomplete mark on a manual ballot if:
    • (a) the defective or incomplete mark is in the proper place; and
    • (b) there is no other mark or cross on the ballot indicating the voter's intent to vote other than as indicated by the incomplete or defective mark.
  • (4) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, the counting judges may not reject a ballot marked by the voter because of marks on the ballot other than those marks allowed by this section unless the extraneous marks on a ballot show an intent by an individual to mark the individual's ballot so that the individual's ballot can be identified.
  • (5)
    • (a) In counting the ballots, the counting judges shall give full consideration to the intent of the voter.
    • (b) The counting judges may not invalidate a ballot because of mechanical or technical defects in voting or failure on the part of the voter to follow strictly the rules for balloting required by Chapter 3a, Voting.
  • (6) The counting judges may not reject a ballot because of an error in:
    • (a) stamping or writing an official endorsement; or
    • (b) delivering the wrong ballots to a polling place.
  • (7) The counting judges may not count a manual ballot that does not have the official endorsement by an election officer.
  • (8) The counting judges may not count a ballot proposition vote or candidate vote for which the voter is not legally entitled to vote, as defined in Section 20A-4-107.
  • (9) If the counting judges discover that the name of a candidate is misspelled on a ballot, or that the initial letters of a candidate's given name are transposed or omitted in whole or in part on a ballot, the counting judges shall count a voter's vote for the candidate if it is apparent that the voter intended to vote for the candidate.
  • (10) The counting judges shall count a vote for the president and the vice president of any political party as a vote for the presidential electors selected by the political party.
  • (11) Except as otherwise provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, in counting the valid write-in votes, if, by casting a valid write-in vote, a voter has cast more votes for an office than that voter is entitled to vote for that office, the counting judges shall count the valid write-in vote as being the obvious intent of the voter.





Download our app to see the most-to-date content.