Section 101 – Manual ballots cast at a polling place — Counting manual ballots at polling place on day of election before polls close.

• (1) Each county legislative body, municipal legislative body, and each poll worker shall comply with the requirements of this section when counting manual ballots on the day of an election, if:
  • (a) the ballots are cast at a polling place; and
  • (b) the ballots are counted at the polling place before the polls close.

• (2)
  • (a) Each county legislative body or municipal legislative body shall provide:
    • (i) two sets of ballot boxes for all voting precincts where both receiving and counting judges have been appointed; and
    • (ii) a counting room for the use of the poll workers counting the ballots during the day.
  • (b) At any election in any voting precinct in which both receiving and counting judges have been appointed, when at least 20 votes have been cast, the receiving judges shall:
    • (i) close the first ballot box and deliver it to the counting judges; and
    • (ii) prepare and use another ballot box to receive voted ballots.
  • (c) Except as provided in Subsection (2)(f), upon receipt of the ballot box, the counting judges shall:
    • (i) take the ballot box to the counting room;
    • (ii) count the votes on the regular ballots in the ballot box;
    • (iii) place the provisional ballot envelopes in the envelope or container provided for them for return to the election officer; and
    • (iv) when they have finished counting the votes in the ballot box, return the emptied box to the receiving judges.
  • (d)
    • (i) During the course of election day, whenever there are at least 20 ballots contained in a ballot box, the receiving judges shall deliver that ballot box to the counting judges for counting; and
    • (ii) the counting judges shall immediately count the regular ballots and segregate the provisional ballots contained in that box.
  • (e) The counting judges shall continue to exchange the ballot boxes and count ballots until the polls close.
  • (f)
    • (i) The director of elections within the Office of the Lieutenant Governor shall make rules in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, describing the procedures that a counting judge is required to follow for counting ballots in an instant runoff voting race under Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project.
    • (ii) When counting ballots in an instant runoff voting race described in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, a counting judge shall comply with the procedures established under Subsection (2)(f)(i) and Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project.

• (3) To resolve questions that arise during the counting of ballots, a counting judge shall apply the standards and requirements of:
  • (a) to the extent applicable, Section 20A-4-105; and
  • (b) as applicable, for an instant runoff voting race under Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, Subsections 20A-4-603(3) through (5).

Amended by Chapter 342, 2022 General Session