Code of Maine Rules
29 - DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
250 - BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES
Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions
Chapter 502 - RULES GOVERNING THE CONDUCT AND PROCEDURES FOR ELECTION RECOUNTS, IN ELECTION CONTESTS DETERMINED BY PLURALITY
Part A - GENERAL PROCEDURES
Section 250-502-3 - CONDUCTING THE RECOUNTS

Universal Citation: 29 ME Code Rules ยง 250-502-3

Current through 2024-38, September 18, 2024

1. Security of the Recount Area. There will be a guardrail enclosure set up to separate the recount area from the public viewing area. In addition to the State recount personnel, only the representatives or counsel for the candidates or the Yes or No side of a referendum, and the counters may be within the guardrail enclosure. All persons participating in the recount, including the Recount Supervisor and Recount Assistants, must sign in before the start of the recount, on a form provided by the Secretary of State. Candidates and members of the public must remain outside the guardrail area. Only limited conversation will be permitted in the recount room. Cell phones must be silenced during the recount and may be used within the guardrail area only by the Recount Supervisor or Recount Assistants as needed to conduct the recount. Any person who causes a disruption of the recount process may be removed from the room, at the discretion of the Recount Supervisor.

2. Inspection of Materials

A. Prior to Counting. Prior to the beginning of the recount, the representatives or counsel for the candidates or the Yes or No side of a referendum will be allowed within the guardrail enclosure to inspect the tamper-proof containers, locks and seals and sign off on their condition.

B. During the Recount. Used (voted) ballots will be inspected and counted during the recount process as provided in subsection 4 below. Once the final count for a municipality has been determined, the voted ballots for that municipality will be resealed in tamper-proof containers, and will not be available for inspection again unless the Recount Supervisor later determines, after consultation with the candidates or their counsel, that re-inspection is necessary to resolve a factual dispute or question about the validity of the recount. lf additional materials have been retrieved pursuant to section 2, subsection 4, paragraph B of these rules, they may be inspected as follows:
(1) The containers of unused state ballots may be inspected immediately after that municipality's ballots have been counted, or they may be held for inspection until after all the ballots in the electoral district have been counted.

(2) The incoming voting lists, absentee ballot envelopes and other election materials may be inspected upon request of one or both of the candidates or their counsel, or at the direction of the Recount Supervisor, after all the ballots in the electoral district have been counted and the Final Recount Tabulation has been prepared.

3. Instructions. At the start of the recount, the Recount Supervisor or designee will provide instruction to the participants on the laws and rules governing the recount process, ballot markings and the determination of voter intent.

4. Ballot Handling Process

A. Access. At no time will a candidate or the candidate's counters or representatives, or referendum representatives be permitted access to the ballots, incoming voting lists or other election materials without supervision or observation by the Recount Supervisor or Recount Assistants.

B. Writing implements. Only the purple pens or pencils provided by the Secretary of State will be used or allowed in the recount room.

C. Counting teams. One counter for each candidate or side of a referendum will be paired to form a counting team. Counters for each candidate or side of a referendum will sit beside one another at a table, facing a Recount Assistant. The counters must remain at the tables during recount sessions, unless excused by the Recount Supervisor or Recount Assistant.

D. Packaging. Ballots will be unpacked and carried to the tables by the Recount Supervisor or Recount Assistants. At the completion of the counting session, the Recount Assistants will reseal the used (voted) ballots in the tamper-proof containers from that municipality or in any additional tamper-proof containers supplied by the Secretary of State.

5. Ballot Sorting and Tallying Process

A. Step 1 -Sort ballots by ballot style/party. On a municipality-by-municipality basis, or on a precinct-by-precinct basis within multi-precinct municipalities, the counting teams will sort out any ballots that do not include the contest involved in the recount (such as ballots from a different party in a primary election or different ballot styles in municipalities or precincts with multiple ballot styles). Ballots that do not include the contest involved will be removed from the counting team's table and resealed in the tamper-proof containers.

B. Step 2 -- Sort ballots by candidate or response selected. On a municipality by-municipality basis, or on a precinct-by-precinct basis within multi-precinct municipalities, the counting teams will sort the remaining ballots into groups, as follows:
(1) Ballots with Candidate A or "Yes" selected,

(2) Ballots with Candidate B or "No" selected,

(3) Ballots with Candidate C selected (if applicable);

(4) Ballots with no recount candidate or referendum response selected; and

(5) Disputed ballots - ballots for which the members of the counting team cannot agree which candidate or referendum response was selected by the voter.

C. Step 3- Count and record votes. Each grouping of ballots assembled in Step 2 will be verified by each counting team member and counted into lots of 50 to facilitate tallying. A tally sheet will be completed to record the total votes for each grouping with multiple lots of the same grouping being combined on one tally sheet, if applicable.

D. Handling of Absentee Ballot Envelopes Containing Ballots. If, upon examination of absentee voting materials, absentee ballot envelopes appearing to contain ballots that were not removed from the envelope on election night are found, these ballots shall be dealt with in the manner described below:
(1) Clerk's notes indicate ballot is okay to cast and absentee ballot envelope has been slit open, but ballots have not been removed: The ballot shall be removed from the envelope and put into an odd Jot to count.

(2) Clerk's notes indicate ballot is okay to cast and absentee ballot envelope has not been slit open: The ballot shall be segregated and not opened until after all other ballots in the electoral district have been counted. At that point, if it can be determined after checking the Incoming Voting List that the voter did not vote at the polls, the envelope shall be opened and the ballot counted and added to the final count.

E. Lot tallies. Upon completion of the recount of each grouping of ballots described above, the Recount Assistant for the counting team will be responsible for completing the Tabulation Sheet for the ballots counted by that team and obtaining the signatures of each team member on the form. Each lot will be labeled with the alpha code assigned to the counting team and consecutively numbered.

F. Municipal tallies. After all the ballot lots have been counted for a municipality, the Recount Supervisor will provide the tabulation for that municipality to each participating candidate's counsel or representative, or to the representative for the Yes or No side of a referendum on a Municipal Tally form. Each candidate's counsel or representative, or referendum representative will be asked to sign the completed Municipal Tally form agreeing to the final count for that municipality, including the number of ballots in dispute. Once this is signed by or on behalf of all recount candidates or sides of a referendum, the used ballots will be resealed and neither the candidates nor their counsel nor representatives for either side of a referendum will have access to these ballots again unless a factual dispute or question about the validity of the recount arises later in the recount process which the Recount Supervisor determines could be resolved by re-inspection. If one candidate or side of a referendum is unwilling to agree to the final count for that municipality without first having an opportunity to inspect other election materials after all other ballots in the electoral district have been recounted, pursuant to section 3, subsection 2, paragraph B of this rule, then the Recount Tabulation may remain unsigned at this point in the process.

6. Disputed ballots

A. Notification of dispute. All disputes must be referred to the Recount Assistant assigned to that counting team, who will alert the Recount Supervisor or another Recount Assistant. All disputed ballots from the town or precinct team shall be placed in one disputed ballot grouping. The number of ballots in a disputed ballot grouping will be noted on a tally sheet form and signed as indicated in this subsection.

B. Segregated. The Disputed Ballot form will be attached to any disputed ballots that are not resolved prior to signing the Municipal Tally form and placed in a tamper-proof container clearly labeled "disputed ballots". Disputed ballots that are identified during the sorting and counting process described in section 5 of this rule will be segregated as a single lot for each municipality. Before signing the Municipal Tally form described in section 3, subsection 5, paragraph F of this rule, the candidates' counsels or representatives may review the disputed ballots jointly and may resolve how they should be sorted and counted. If the disputes are resolved, the votes on those ballots will be added to the municipal totals for the appropriate candidate or referendum response.

C. Review of disputed ballots. Prior to signing the Final Recount Tabulation pursuant to section 4 of this rule, the candidates and/or their counsel may review the disputed ballots jointly and may resolve how individual ballots will be counted. Disputed ballots which are resolved before the final tabulation may be repacked and resealed with the other ballots.

D. Appeals. If there are enough disputed or challenged ballots to affect the result of the election, the interested candidate may appeal the recount as described in section 4, subsection 1 of this rule.

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