§11-72  Precinct officials; submission ofnames and assignment; vacancies.  (a)  All qualified politicalparties shall submit names for precinct officials to the chief election officernot later than 4:30 p.m. on the sixtieth day prior to the close of filing forany primary, special primary, or special election.  All precinct officialsshall be able to read and write the English language.  If any party fails tosubmit the required names by the above deadline, or names sufficient to fillthe positions to which it would be entitled, assignment of positions to whichthe party would otherwise be entitled pursuant to subsection (b), may be madewithout regard to party affiliation.

(b)  In assigning the precinct officials, thefollowing criteria shall be followed:

(1)  The precinct officials shall be registered votersof the precinct in which they serve; but if qualified persons in the precinctor representative district are not readily available to serve, they may bechosen from without the precinct or representative district, or if qualifiedpersons either in or without the precinct or representative district are notavailable to serve, the chief election officer may designate precinct officialswho are not registered voters if the persons so designated are otherwisequalified and shall have attained the age of sixteen years on or before June30, of the year of the election in which they are appointed to work;

(2)  The chief election officer may designate moreprecinct officials than are needed in order to create a pool of qualifiedprecinct officials who may be assigned to fill vacancies or to perform theirduties as needed in any precinct;

(3)  No parent, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, child,or sibling of a candidate shall be eligible to serve as a precinct official inany precinct in which votes may be cast for the candidate; nor shall anycandidate for any elective office be eligible to serve as a precinct officialin the same election in which the person is a candidate.  No candidate whofailed to be nominated in the primary or special primary election shall beeligible to serve as a precinct official in the general election nextfollowing; and

(4)  The chairperson of the precinct officials shallbe the first named precinct official on the list prepared by the chief electionofficer.  The remainder of the precinct officials shall be apportioned asfollows:

(A)  The total votes cast, except those castfor nonpartisan candidates, for all of the following offices that were on theballot in the next preceding general election shall be divided into the totalvotes cast for all the candidates of each party for these offices:  presidentand vice-president, United States senator, United States representative,governor and lieutenant governor, state senator, and state representative;

(B)  If a party's proportion of votes castexceeds fifty per cent, its share shall be one-half of the precinct officials. The remaining one-half shall be divided among the remaining parties inproportion to their respective total of votes cast for the offices set forth insubparagraph (A);

(C)  In the case of the above divisionresulting in parties having fractional positions, a whole position shall go tothe party with the larger number of votes cast; and

(D)  Newly qualified parties may be assigned upto ten per cent of the total positions available at the discretion of the chiefelection officer.

(c)  In the recruitment and placement ofprecinct officials, any or all of the requirements of subsection (b) may bewaived by the chief election officer if it is determined that minority languageassistance or other special needs warrant such waiver, except as provided insubsection (b)(3).

(d)  In case of inability, failure, or refusalof any person so assigned to serve as a precinct official, the chief electionofficer shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy. [L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; amL 1972, c 77, §4; am L 1973, c 217, §1(u); am L 1977, c 189, §1(5); am L 1979,c 125, §3(2) and c 139, §5; am L 1987, c 209, §1; am L 1988, c 141, §1; am L1989, c 261, §24; am L 1990, c 124, §2; gen ch 1992; am L 1995, c 71, §2; am L2005, c 14, §2 and c 201, §3]