Okla. Admin. Code § 230:35-3-131

Current through Vol. 42, No. 8, January 2, 2025

Section 230:35-3-131 - Opening provisional ballot secrecy envelopes and counting provisional ballots

(a) The County Election Board members shall meet on Friday next following the election at such time as the Secretary may prescribe to open the verified provisional ballot affidavit envelopes and to count the provisional ballots. The Board members shall follow these steps to remove the provisional ballots from the envelopes.

(1) The Board members shall receive the verified provisional ballot affidavits and ballot secrecy envelopes from the Secretary or a designated County Election Board employee.

(2) The Board members shall separate the affidavits from the ballot secrecy envelopes. If an affidavit indicates that the voter received two or more ballots, but that not all the ballots enclosed are to be counted, see (c) of this Section.

(A) Set the affidavit aside.

(B) Place the ballot secrecy envelope in an appropriate container.

(3) When all the affidavits have been separated from the ballot secrecy envelopes , the secrecy envelopes shall be mixed together in the container.

(4) The Board members shall open the ballot secrecy envelopes and remove the ballots.

(A) Set the secrecy envelope aside.

(B) Unfold the ballot and place it in the designated container.

(b) When all the verified provisional ballot secrecy envelopes have been opened, the ballots shall be counted. The following procedure shall be observed.

(1) The Secretary shall assign a County Election Board employee to count the provisional ballots using a voting device designated and prepared for the purpose. The members of the County Election Board shall observe the counting process.

(2) The employee assigned to count the ballots shall take the following steps.

(A) Insert the ballots, one at a time, into the device.

(B) After all the provisional ballots have been counted, close the polls on the voting device and print the Detail and Tally Report. An additional number of Detail and Tally Reports shall be printed as instructed by the Secretary.

(3) The employee who counted the ballots and the members of the County Election Board each shall sign all the copies of the Detail and Tally Report.

(4) The employee shall remove the counted provisional ballots and place them in a ballot transfer case. One signed copy of the Detail and Tally Report shall also be placed in the ballot transfer case. The ballot transfer case shall be sealed with a short turquoise State Election Board seal signed by the County Election Board members and the employee who counted the ballots. The Secretary shall check the "Counted Provisional Ballots" box on the seal and shall indicate the precinct numbers included in the ballot transfer case.

(5) The sealed ballot transfer case shall be given to the Sheriff, who shall provide security for the counted ballots until 5 p.m. on Friday following the election or until the ballots are delivered to the district courtroom for a recount.

(6) One copy of the provisional ballots Detail and Tally Report shall be made available for inspection in the County Election Board office after 1 p.m. on Friday following the election.

(c) If a provisional voter was issued two or more ballots and, upon verification of the voter's information, it is determined that one or more of the ballots cannot be counted, the County Election Board members shall follow these steps when opening the affidavit envelope.

(1) Open the ballot secrecy envelope.

(2) Write "Count (BALLOT TYPE OR CODE) ballot only" on the secrecy envelope in red ink.

(3) Place secrecy envelope in the container with other secrecy envelopes.

(4) When opening the ballot secrecy envelopes, remove from the marked envelopes only the specific ballot or ballots to be counted. Put the ballots that cannot be counted back in the secrecy envelope and set it aside with the other uncounted provisional ballot materials.

Okla. Admin. Code § 230:35-3-131

Added at 22 Ok Reg 1884, eff 7-1-05 ; Amended at 23 Ok Reg 80, eff 9-1-05 (emergency) ; Amended at 23 Ok Reg 1290, eff 7-1-06 ; Amended at 25 Ok Reg 351, eff 11-5-07 (emergency) ; Amended at 25 Ok Reg 1921, eff 7-1-08 ; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 2533, eff 7-15-09 ; Amended at 30 Ok Reg 1672, eff 7-15-13

Amended by Oklahoma Register, Volume 36, Issue 24, September 3, 2019, eff. 9/16/2019