Section 3-802. VALIDITY OF BALLOTS

 

802.1The Executive Director, or his or her designee, shall make determinations on the validity of ballots. 

 

802.2Any election official who is uncertain whether a ballot is partially or totally invalid shall refer the ballot to the Executive Director, or his or her designee, for a determination.

 

802.3Any poll watcher or election observer who is uncertain whether a ballot is partially or totally invalid may refer the ballot to the Executive Director, or his or her designee, for a determination.

 

802.4Except as provided in this section, only official ballots shall be valid and counted.  An official ballot is a sheet of paper, or electronic card, filmstrip or other device that has been approved by the Board for use during an election on which votes are recorded and stored for purposes of tabulation.  For DRE machines, the official ballot shall be the electronic card which records and stores the elector’s votes, except that the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) shall be the official ballot of record during all occurrences of manual tabulation, including audits and recounts.

 

802.5Pursuant to Chapter 7 of this title, if a qualified uniformed services or overseas voter chooses to use a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or chooses to electronically submit his or her ballot, it shall be duplicated, and the duplicated ballot shall be treated as an official ballot and deemed valid.

 

802.6If a precinct was authorized by the Board to use reproductions of official paper ballots because of an emergency, the reproductions shall be duplicated and the duplicated ballots shall be considered official ballots and deemed valid.

 

802.7If a ballot marked "Challenged" or "Special" is placed in a ballot box and received at a counting place other than in a Special Ballot Envelope, it shall be deemed invalid.

 

 

authority

The District of Columbia Election Code of 1955, approved August 12, 1955, as amended (69 Stat. 699; D.C. Official Code § 1-1001.05(a)(14) (2014 Repl.)).

source

Final Rulemaking published at 27 DCR 1836 (May 2, 1980), incorporating the text of Proposed Rulemaking published at 27 DCR 1222 (March 21, 1980); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 30 DCR 5289 (October 14, 1983); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 51 DCR 5063 (May 14, 2004); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 51 DCR 7426 (July 30, 2004); as amended by Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking published at 57 DCR 7705 (August 20, 2010)[EXPIRED]; as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 57 DCR 11149, 11151 (November 26, 2010); as amended by Emergency and Federal Rulemaking published at 58 DCR 10752 (December 16, 2012)[EXPIRED];as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 58 DCR 941, 969 (February 10, 2012); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 62 DCR 14744 (November 13, 2015).