Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 12, March 22, 2024
a) The election authority shall:
1) transmit to the State Board of Elections
the provisional voter's identifying information and voting jurisdiction (see
Section 18A-15(d) of the Code) within 2 calendar days. Following that, and
subject to subsection (2) below, if the election authority having jurisdiction
over the provisional voter determines that the voter has cast a provisional
ballot in an incorrect precinct, the ballot shall still be counted using the
procedures established in subsection (b) or Section
218.30
if applicable. Jurisdictions that use election machines authorized pursuant to
Article 24C of the Election Code for casting provisional ballots may vary
procedures of this Section and Section
218.30
as appropriate for the counting of provisional ballots cast on those
machines.
2) determine whether the
voter was entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The voter is entitled to cast
a provisional ballot if:
A) the affidavit
executed by the voter contains, at a minimum, the provisional voter's first and
last name, house number and street name, and signature or mark (Section
18A-15(b)(2) of the Code);
B) the
provisional voter is a registered voter based on information available to the
county clerk or board of election commissioners provided by or obtained from
the provisional voter, an election judge, the Statewide voter registration
database maintained by the State Board of Elections, the records of the county
clerk or board of election commissioners' database, or the records of the
Secretary of State (Section 18A-15(b)(3) of the Code); and
C) the provisional voter did not vote by
absentee ballot and did not vote during the period for early voting (Section
18A-15(b)(4) of the Code).
b) Once it has been determined by the
election authority that the voter was entitled to vote a provisional ballot,
even though it had been cast in an incorrect precinct, the election authority
shall select a team or teams of 2 duly commissioned election judges, one from
each of the two leading established political parties in Illinois (currently
the Democratic Party and Republican Party) to count the votes that are eligible
to be cast on the provisional ballot. In those jurisdictions that use election
officials as defined in Section 18A-15(h) of the Code, these duties may be
performed by those election officials.
1)
Votes cast for Statewide offices, the Office of President of the United States
(including votes cast in the Presidential Preference Primary), and United
States Senate shall be counted on all provisional ballots cast in the incorrect
precinct.
2) Votes cast for
Representative in Congress, delegate/alternate delegate to a national
nominating convention, State Senator, State Representative, or countywide,
citywide or township office shall be counted if it is determined by the
election judges or officials that the voter would have been entitled to vote
for one or more of these offices had the voter voted in the precinct in which
he or she is registered to vote (i.e., the correct precinct) and had the voter
voted a ballot of the correct ballot style containing all the offices and
candidates for which the voter was entitled to cast a ballot (the correct
ballot style). This determination shall be made by comparing a sample ballot of
the correct ballot style with the actual provisional ballot cast by the voter.
If the same office (including the same district number for a Congressional,
Legislative or Representative district) appears on both the correct ballot
style sample ballot and the provisional ballot cast by the voter, votes for
that office shall be counted. All votes cast for any remaining offices (offices
for which the voter would not have been entitled to vote had he or she voted in
the correct precinct) shall not be counted.
3) No votes shall be counted for an office
when the voter voted for more candidates than he/she was allowed.
4) Once it has been determined which offices
are to be counted and the provisional ballot contains no other votes, the
provisional ballot shall be counted pursuant to the procedures set forth in
this subsection (b).
5) If a
provisional ballot does not contain any valid votes, the provisional ballot
shall be marked invalid and shall not be counted.
6) Any provisional voting verification system
established by an election authority shall inform the provisional voter that
his or her provisional ballot was partially counted because it was cast in an
incorrect precinct.
7) If a
provisional ballot only contains votes cast for eligible offices, and does not
contain any votes cast for ineligible offices, the ballot may be tabulated
without having to be remade.
8) If
a provisional ballot contains both valid votes that must be counted and invalid
votes that cannot be counted:
A) the election
judges, consisting in each case of at least one of each of the 2 leading
political parties, shall, if the provisional ballot was cast on a paper ballot
sheet, proceed to remake the voted ballot onto a blank ballot that includes all
of the offices for which valid votes were cast, transferring only valid votes.
The original provisional ballot shall be marked "Original Provisional Ballot"
with a serial number commencing at "1" and continuing consecutively for ballots
of that kind in the precinct. The duplicate provisional ballot shall be marked
"Duplicate Provisional Ballot" and be given the same serial number as the
original ballot from which it was duplicated. The duplicate provisional ballot
shall then be treated in the same manner as other provisional
ballots.
B) if the provisional
ballot was cast on a direct recording electronic voting device, the election
judges shall mark the original provisional ballot as a partially counted
defective electronic provisional ballot because it was cast in the incorrect
precinct (or bear some similar notation) and proceed to either:
i) remake the voted ballot by transferring
all valid votes to a duplicate paper ballot sheet of the correct ballot style,
marking the duplicate ballot "Duplicate Electronic Provisional Ballot" and then
counting the duplicate provisional ballot in the same manner as the other
provisional ballots marked on paper ballot sheets; or
ii) transfer, or cause to be transferred, all
valid votes electronically to the correct precinct, which shall be counted and
added to the vote totals for the correct precinct, excluding any votes that
cannot be counted. If this method is used, a permanent paper record must be
generated for both the defective provisional ballot and the duplicate
electronic provisional ballot.
c) For provisional ballots cast at a partisan
primary election, the judges shall use a duplicate ballot of the correct ballot
style for the same political party as the ballot chosen by the voter.
d) At least one qualified pollwatcher for
each candidate, political party, and civic organization, as authorized by
Section 17-23 of the Code, shall be permitted to observe the ballot remaking
process.