Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 1360 - Department of State
Subtitle 1360-02 - Elections
Chapter 1360-02-09 - Procedures at the Counting Center
Section 1360-02-09-.04 - DUPLICATION BOARD

Current through September 24, 2024

(1) The duplication board shall be made up of one or more teams of two members each, one of whom shall be a member of the majority party and one of whom shall be a member of the minority party. Upon receiving a damaged or mutilated ballot, the duplication board team will undertake the duplication of the ballot in the following manner:

(a) The ballot to be duplicated will be placed in a porta-punch device. Under the ballot to be duplicated will be placed a pre-scored ballot card similar to the ballot to be duplicated. The color of the duplicate ballot is red.

(b) The duplicated ballot will then be seen through the holes of the original ballot. One member of the duplication team will, under the observation of the other member and with the stylus provided, begin on the left side of the ballot and go down the entire row punching out each red chip that can be observed through the original ballot. This will be done for each row in succession in which red rectangles appear. The team shall also punch out the precinct and, where applicable, the Party identification positions which appear at the very bottom of the ballot.

(c) When the team is satisfied that it has accurately reproduced the ballot, the team member who observed the process will, in the presence of the team member who punched the ballot, site the ballot against the light.

This will be a check to determine whether all the holes in the original ballot have been punched out and will be a further check to insure that any holes not in the original ballot have not been punched out.

(d) When both members of the team are satisfied that the ballot is properly duplicated they will each sign the back of the duplicated ballot.

(e) Both the original damaged ballot and the duplicate ballot will be identically serially numbered beginning with "Ballot Number l."

(f) The duplicate ballot will then be entered into the tray in ballot tab counties and the mutilated ballot will then be placed in the damaged ballot envelope and forwarded to the data processing board.

(g) One damaged ballot envelope will be provided for each precinct. The outside of the envelope will have a space to name or identify the precinct and a space showing the number of damaged ballots included therein.

(h) Upon the completion of the duplication of damaged ballots, appropriate entries shall be made on the duplication board log (Fig. 5).

(2) Upon receiving a ballot containing a write-in envelope, the board will process such a ballot as follows:

(a) The board will place identical precinct and ballot identification numbers on the ballot card and on the write-in envelope.

(b) The board will remove the ballot card from the write-in envelope and will determine whether the voter has voted for any candidate on the punch card ballot for an office for which a different candidate's name has been written in. In such a case, the write-in envelope shall be rejected and the ballot card shall be duplicated, omitting the vote for the candidate which conflicts with the write-in envelope.

(c) If the votes on the write-in envelope do not conflict with the ballot card, both the ballot card and the write-in envelope will be forwarded to and processed in the usual manner by the write-in board.

(d) If a voter casts a vote for the same candidate on both the ballot card and the write-in envelope, the ballot card will be processed in the usual manner and the write-in envelope will be rejected with the appropriate notation.

Authority: T.C.A.§§2-910, 2-7-117 and 2-11-201(c).

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Tennessee may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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