TrustVoting Atlas

1. At any time beginning three business days before election day and ending when the
polls close on election day, the election clerks and board members of the relevant
polling place first shall compare the signature on the application for an absent voter's
ballot with the signature on the voter's affidavit provided for in section 16.1-07-08 to
ensure the signatures correspond. If the applicant is then a duly qualified elector of the
precinct and has not voted at the election, an election clerk or board member shall
open the absent voter's envelope in a manner as not to destroy the affidavit on the
envelope. The election clerk or board member shall take out the secrecy envelope with
the ballot inside without unfolding the ballot, or permitting the ballot to be opened or
examined, and indicate in the pollbook of the election the elector has voted. The
election board members not participating in the comparing of signatures and entering
voters into the pollbook shall remove the ballot from the secrecy envelope, unfold and
initial the ballot, and deposit the ballot in the proper ballot box for tabulation. The votes
from the ballots may not be tallied and the tabulation reports may not be generated
until the polls have closed on election day.
2. If the affidavit on the outer envelope of a returned absentee ballot is found to be
insufficient, or the signatures on the application and affidavit do not correspond, or the
applicant is not then a duly qualified elector of the precinct, the vote may not be
allowed, and without opening the absent voter's envelope, the election inspector or
election judge shall mark across the face of the ballot "rejected as defective" or
"rejected as not an elector", as the case may be. The ballots rejected under this
subsection then are turned over to the county canvassing board for final determination
of eligibility. The subsequent death of an absentee voter after voting by absentee ballot
is not grounds for rejecting the ballot.