29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 536, § 6

Current through 2024-51, December 18, 2024

Section 250-536-6 - PROCEDURES FOR RECOUNTS INVOLVING TWO CANDIDATES IN THE FINAL ROUND OF RANKED-CHOICE VOTING

This section sets forth the procedure for conducting a recount requested by Candidate B and involving the two continuing candidates in the final round of the ranked-choice counting process.

1.Step 1 - Sort ballots by first choice votes. On a municipality-by-municipality basis, or on a precinct-by-precinct basis within multi-precinct municipalities, the counting teams will sort the ballots into four groups, as follows:

A. Ballots with Candidate A marked as the first choice,

B. Ballots with Candidate B marked as the first choice,

C. Ballots with neither recount candidate marked as the first choice, and

D. Disputed ballots - ballots for which the members of the counting team cannot agree which candidate was selected by the voter.

2.Step 2 - Count and record first choice votes. Each grouping of first choice votes (Candidate A, Candidate B, neither and disputed) will be verified and counted into lots of 50 to facilitate tallying. A tally sheet will be completed to record the total of first choice votes for each grouping. After tallying, the ballots with first choice votes for Candidates A and B will be returned to the tamper-proof containers for the municipality or precinct within the municipality, as applicable. Ballots with no recount candidate selected as first choice will be processed in Step 3.

3.Step 3 - Further sort ballots with no recount candidate selected as first choice. Sort the ballots on which no recount candidate was selected as the first choice into three groups, as follows:

A. Ballots on which Candidate A is preferred over Candidate B,

B. Ballots on which Candidate Bis preferred over Candidate A, and

C. Exhausted ballots (ballots on which neither Candidate A or B is ranked, and ballots which have an overvote or double-skipped ranking prior to the ranking for either Candidate A or B).

4.Step 4 - Count and record ballots by grouping from Step 3. Each grouping from Step 3 will be verified, then counted into lots of 50 to facilitate tallying. A tally sheet will be completed to record the totals for each grouping.

5.Step 5- Complete the Municipal Tabulation form. On the Municipal Tabulation form, the counting team will record the total of first choice votes as determined in Step 2 and the total of preferred rankings for each candidate as determined in Step 4, and add those two numbers together to obtain each candidate's total votes for the municipality. The counting team will add the number of exhausted ballots and any disputed ballots to obtain the total votes cast for the municipality. Each candidate's counsel or representative will be asked to sign the Municipal Tabulation form at this point, pursuant to section 5, subsection 4, paragraph I. Before signing, they may review the disputed ballots jointly, as described in section 5, subsection 4, paragraph F(2), and if the disputes are resolved the votes on those ballots will be added to the municipal totals for the appropriate candidates.

6.Aggregate the municipal totals for the district-wide count. When the ballots from all municipalities have been counted, the municipal totals will be aggregated into a statewide total, and Candidates A and B will be asked to sign the Final Recount Tabulation, as described in section 8 of this rule. If there are disputed ballots that are not resolved pursuant to section 5, subsection 4, paragraph F(2), a disputed ballot form must be completed for each of these ballots. If the requesting candidate concedes the recount before the ballots in all of the municipalities have been counted, the original ranked-choice vote count will be used as the Final Recount Tabulation.

29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 536, § 6