Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 31 - ELECTIONS
Part I - Election Process
Chapter 11 - Emergency Election Day Paper Ballot Voting Procedures
Section I-1107 - Delivery of "Election Day Voted Paper Ballots" Envelope and Tabulation and Counting of Paper Ballots

1. Upon receipt of the "election day voted paper ballots" envelope on election night, the clerk of court or his designee shall deliver the envelope to the parish board of election supervisors or absentee commissioners for tabulation of the election day voted paper ballots.

1. The paper ballots cast at the polling place shall be counted by the parish board of election supervisors or the absentee commissioners on election night according to the procedures for counting absentee by mail ballots in R.S. 18:1313, R.S. 18:1315, R.S. 18:1316, and the specific procedures provided for herein.

2. A member of the parish board or an absentee commissioner shall remove the paper ballots audit form, the sealed secrecy envelopes containing the voted ballots, the spoiled ballot envelopes, and the unused paper ballots from the election day voted paper ballots envelope and check to confirm that the paper ballots audit form is correct and matches what is delivered in the election day voted paper ballots envelope. If there are any discrepancies, the board or absentee commissioners shall make a notation of the discrepancy on the original paper ballots audit form and certify by their signature to the accuracy of their notation.

3. Each voted ballot shall be removed from the secrecy envelope and a member of the parish board or an absentee commissioner shall write "ED" for election day and his initials in the space on the ballot directly below the secretary of state's signature so as not to mark on the dark black timing marks on the sides of the ballots and to distinguish the election day paper ballots from the absentee by mail paper ballots.

4. The election day paper ballots shall be segregated from the absentee by mail paper ballots and shall be kept segregated by precinct to be counted and reported by precinct.

5. The parish board of election supervisors or the absentee commissioners may elect to count the election day paper ballots manually or they may use the scanning equipment. The election day paper ballots shall be counted separately from the absentee by mail paper ballots and shall be counted and reported by precinct. The secretary of state shall provide written instructions to assist with the counting of paper ballots by precinct.

6. Upon completion of the counting of the election day paper ballots, a member of the parish board of election supervisors or absentee commissioner shall enter the vote totals from the election day paper ballots for each precinct on a worksheet which shall be signed by the board or absentee commissioners and delivered to the clerk of court for entering of the results.

7. The clerk of court or his designee on election night shall add the vote totals for the election day paper ballots from the worksheet to the vote totals for each precinct in the Department of State's Elections and Registration Information Network (ERIN). The secretary of state shall provide written instructions to assist with the entering of these vote totals.

8. Upon completion of the counting of the election day paper ballots, the voted ballots and secrecy envelopes, the original paper ballots audit form, the spoiled ballot envelopes, and all unused ballots and secrecy envelopes shall be returned to the election day voted ballots envelope and the envelope shall be retained by the registrar of voters in accordance with the procedures for retention of absentee by mail ballots in R.S. 18:1312.