16-564

16-564. Opening, exhibiting and locking ballot
box before receipt of ballots; removal and opening of box

A. Before receiving any ballots the election board, in the presence of the persons
assembled at the polling place, shall open, exhibit and lock the ballot box, and
thereafter it shall not be removed from the polling place or presence of the bystanders
until all ballots are counted, nor opened until after the polls are finally closed,
except in the case of an emergency that renders the polling place unusable to the point
where it can no longer function as a polling place because law enforcement or other
emergency personnel have ordered that the polling place be evacuated or as determined by
the officer in charge of elections to allow voting to continue while awaiting an
evacuation order from law enforcement or other emergency personnel.

B. If a locked ballot box must be moved from a polling place due to an emergency,
at least two members of the election board from that polling place who are not members of
the same political party shall accompany the locked ballot box to a new polling place
designated by the officer in charge of elections, subject to the following:

1. If practicable and available, a law enforcement officer shall aid in the
transfer of the locked ballot box.

2. If two members of the election board from that polling place are not available,
one member of the election board and one law enforcement officer may accompany the locked
ballot box to the new polling place.

C. If a ballot box was moved due to an emergency, two additional board members
shall verify whether the locked ballot box arrived at the new polling place location and
that it was not opened or damaged.

D. All election board members who accompanied the locked ballot box to the new
location and the one or two election board members who verified the ballot box's arrival
shall file a report with the officer in charge of elections that describes the actions
taken by the election board members. This report shall be filed on the day of the
emergency.

E. On the day that an emergency occurs as prescribed in subsection A, all election
board members, including those who aided in the transfer and verification of the locked
ballot box, shall indicate on the official documents containing their oath whether they
witnessed the transfer of the ballot box and whether the ballot box remained locked.

F. If during the course of an election day the ballot box can no longer accommodate
additional ballots, the board members may remove a sufficient number of ballots from the
ballot box and shall place the removed ballots into the case that will be used for the
transfer of the ballots to the officer in charge of elections. The inspector and both
judges shall oversee the transfer and the following shall apply:

1. An immediate count of the number of ballots removed shall be made by the
election board members and a sheet indicating the count and signed by the board members
supervising the count shall be placed in the transfer case with the removed ballots and
shall be kept sealed for the remainder of the election day.

2. Once the removed ballots are sealed in the transfer case, the original ballot
box shall be relocked and voting may continue.

3. At the close of the polls, the removed ballots and the ballots in the locked
ballot box shall be moved together to the tabulating place designated by the officer in
charge of elections.

G. At the close of the polls, if a ballot box has been transferred to a new polling
place or a ballot box has been opened, a report detailing those events and other
pertinent information shall be made by the officer in charge of elections to the
chairpersons of all recognized political parties in that county.