A.
On or before the third Friday after an election, the election commission shall meet in public session to declare which ballots will be rejected and which shall be counted.
B.
Any person registered as an observer present at the public session of the canvass may, by specifying the basis in writing:
1.
Challenge a voter's ballot if the person has good reason to suspect that the voter is not qualified to vote at the election, or the ballot has not been properly cast under the standards in section 28.70.030.
2.
Challenge the rejection of a ballot if the person has good reason to believe that the ballot has not been properly rejected.
C.
The election commission by majority vote may accept a ballot or refuse to accept and count the ballot of a person properly challenged under this subsection. The commission may accept a partial ballot by authorizing the count of only those races and questions for which the voter was qualified.
D.
The vote of the election commission is final.
E.
Preliminarily rejected or challenged envelopes that the commission decides to accept shall be opened and the ballots counted under the procedures of chapter 28.80.
F.
The municipal clerk shall place all ballot return envelopes rejected by the election commission, unopened, in a separate container with any statements of challenge. The container shall be labeled "rejected ballot return envelopes" and shall be retained for a period of 30 days after the date of certification of the election.
G.
Within 30 days of certification of the election, the municipal clerk shall mail a notice of ballot rejection to each voter whose ballot return envelope was rejected. The notice shall state the reason for rejection.
(GAAB 7.05.180; CAC 2.68.502; AO No. 80-101; AO No. 83-84(S); AO No. 85-75; AO No. 91-50; AO No. 2001-43, § 5, 2-27-2001; AO No. 2002-181, §§ 1, 2, 3-24-2003; AO No. 2013-130(S-1), § 7, 1-14-2014; AO No. 2017-29(S), § 42, 6-1-2017; AO No. 2020-5(S), § 6, 2-11-2020; AO No. 2020-131(S), § 11, 1-14-2021)