§ 26-7-129.2. Substitute ballots.

A.  In the event an absentee ballot is mutilated, defaced or damaged in a manner that it cannot be read by the voting device and thus not counted during the counting process, then two members of the county election board of different political party affiliations or two members of an absentee voting board under the supervision of the county election board shall be authorized to mark a substitute ballot in identical fashion, insofar as is possible.  Once so marked, the substitute ballot shall be entered for counting into the voting device.  A written record of such action shall be made by the two county election board members.

B.  In the event of an absentee ballot that was delivered electronically to a voter as described in Section 14-118 of this title, or an absentee ballot that was received from a voter by facsimile device as described by Section 14-118.1 of this title, and the ballot cannot be read by the voting device, then two members of the county election board of different political party affiliations or two members of an absentee voting board under the supervision of the county election board shall be authorized to mark a substitute ballot in identical fashion, insofar as is possible.  Once so marked, the substitute ballot shall be entered for counting into the voting device.  A written record of such action shall be made by the two county election board members.

C.  In the event there is a disagreement about how a substitute ballot should be marked for any race, the matter shall be brought immediately before the full county election board, which shall vote to decide how to mark the ballot.

Added by Laws 1984, c. 38, § 2, operative July 1, 1984.  Amended by Laws 1991, c. 321, § 24, eff. March 1, 1992; Laws 2011, c. 139, § 12; Laws 2013, c. 200, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2013.