It is the purpose and intent of the Commissioners
in enacting this article to provide those qualified electors of the
Town of Henlopen Acres who are unable to appear at a municipal election
to cast their ballots with the ability to cast a ballot to be counted
in the total for the municipal election.
Any person qualified under the provisions of
the Charter to vote by absentee ballot in any municipal election held
in the Town ("elector") may vote by absentee ballot for any reason
authorized by the Charter or ordinances and for any of the following
reasons:
A.
Because such person is in the public service of the
United States or of this state, or is a citizen of the United States
temporarily residing outside the territorial limits of the United
States and the District of Columbia, or such person's spouse or dependents
when residing with or accompanying the person, or is absent from this
state because of illness or injury received while serving in the Armed
Forces of the United States; or
B.
Because such person is in the Armed Forces of the
United States or the Merchant Marines of the United States, or attached
to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States in the American
Red Cross or United Service Organizations; or
C.
Because of the nature of such person's business or
occupation, including the business or occupation of providing care
to a parent, spouse or that person's child who is living at home and
requires constant care due to illness or injury; or
D.
Because such person is sick or physically disabled;
or
E.
Because such person is absent from the Town while
on vacation; or
F.
Because such person is unable to vote at a certain
time or on a certain day due to the tenets or teachings of that person's
religion.
[Amended 1-12-2018]
A.
An elector desiring to vote by absentee ballot in
an election for which the elector is a qualified elector may request
an absentee ballot from the Town by filing a written statement with
the Town no later than 12:00 noon the day before the election.
B.
A statement may be filed pursuant to this section
by mailing it, delivering it, or causing it to be delivered to the
Town where the elector is qualified to vote.
C.
Statements filed pursuant to this section shall:
(1)
Indicate the election or elections for which the elector
is requesting an absentee ballot;
(2)
Include at least the following information:
(a)
The elector's name;
(b)
The address within the Town at which the elector
establishes eligibility to vote;
(c)
The address to which the elector requests that
the absentee ballot be mailed;
(d)
The elector's date of birth;
(e)
The elector's expected location on election
day;
(f)
The reason that the elector cannot appear at the regular polling place on the day of the election, which reason shall be any of the reasons listed in § 16-9;
(g)
A telephone number, if available, to assist
in resolving any challenge;
(h)
An email address, if available, to assist in
resolving any challenge; and
(i)
The elector's signature.
(3)
Be subscribed and sworn to by the elector.
E.
The Town shall adopt an absentee statement template
created by the Commissioner of Elections of the State Department of
Elections to use in creating its own absentee statement by adding
additional reasons that a person may vote by absentee ballot. The
Town shall adopt designated envelopes and a set of instructions for
voters casting their votes by absentee ballot established by the Commissioner
of Elections.
F.
The Town may adopt a printed or electronic statement
form (or both), containing blanks associated with each item required
by this section to be listed on a statement, which may be completed
by any elector wishing to receive an absentee ballot pursuant to this
section. An elector may submit a written or electronic request to
the Town for the Town prepared statement form, which the Town shall
forward to the elector upon receipt of a request therefor.
B.
Not more than 60 nor less than four days prior to an election, and within three days after the absentee ballots, envelopes, and instructions therefore become available, the Town shall mail, to each elector who requests and qualifies for an absentee ballot pursuant to § 16-9 of this article, the following:
(1)
An absentee ballot for the municipal election in which
the elector is qualified to vote;
(2)
Instructions for completing the absentee ballot and
returning it to the Town, marked "INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING AND
RETURNING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT"; and
(3)
An envelope marked "BALLOT ENVELOPE," which shall
be:
C.
Postage for all mailings made pursuant to this section
shall be prepaid by the Town.
D.
Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the
issuance of an absentee ballot to those lawfully entitled thereto
when the request is made less than four days prior to the election.
[Amended 1-12-2018]
B.
Upon each envelope provided pursuant to this section
shall appear:
(1)
The words "BALLOT ENVELOPE";
(2)
An alphanumeric symbol and/or barcode for use in accounting
for the absentee ballot;
(3)
Identification information for the elector receiving
the absentee ballot, including: the name of the Town, the elector's
name, the elector's mailing address, the address within the Town that
establishes the elector's eligibility to vote if different from the
elector's mailing address, and such other information as the Town
may require; and
(4)
The following oath:
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"I do solemnly swear (affirm) that to the best
of my knowledge I am eligible to vote in this municipal election and
that the address that appears on the label on this envelope is the
address at which I am qualified to vote in this municipal election.
I also do solemnly swear (affirm) under penalty of perjury that I
have not received or accepted, or offered to receive or accept, any
money or other item of value as compensation, inducement or reward
for the giving or withholding of a vote at this municipal election,
nor that I am acting under duress or threat of duress or harm."
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(5)
The voter's signature.
[Amended 1-12-2018]
The procedure for completing an absentee ballot
and returning it to the Town is as follows:
A.
An elector who receives an absentee ballot pursuant
to this article shall complete the ballot by marking it with the elector's
selections and shall place the completed ballot in the envelope marked
"BALLOT ENVELOPE."
B.
The elector shall confirm that the information about
that elector on the ballot envelope is correct and then sign the self-administered
oath.
C.
The elector shall then seal the ballot envelope.
A.
The Town shall endorse the date and time of receipt
on the ballot envelope of each absentee ballot received by the Town.
B.
For an absentee ballot to be counted pursuant to this
article, an elector voting by absentee ballot shall return the elector
marked ballot to the Town where the elector is qualified to vote before
the polls close on the day of the election.
C.
The Town shall retain unopened any ballot envelope
it receives after the polls close on the day of the election for 60
days after the election, or longer if directed by proper authority
or required to do so by federal law.
A.
Upon receipt of a ballot envelope the Town, or a person
authorized by the Town, shall:
(1)
Ascertain the names of each elector as they appear
on the face of each ballot envelope;
(2)
Ascertain from the information on the ballot envelope
the municipal election district with whose votes the ballot within
it shall be tallied; and
(3)
Place the ballot envelope in a secure location until
such time as it is opened and the ballot within it is counted.
B.
No agent or employee of the Town shall open or attempt
to open the ballot envelope, or change or alter or attempt to change
or alter the ballot envelope, or any writing, printing or anything
whatsoever thereon.
At any time between the opening and the closing
of the polls on an election day, absentee election judges selected
by a Town's Board of Elections shall count absentee ballots at a properly
noticed public meeting in the Town's offices or at the place of the
election, at the Town's discretion, in accordance with the procedures
set out below. Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, at
the discretion of the Town, the Board of Elections may itself act
as the absentee election judges.
A.
The Town's Board of Elections shall appoint a sufficient
number of teams of absentee election judges, each consisting of an
odd number of electors, to open and tally the absentee ballots before
the close of the polls. The Board of Elections shall be responsible
for deciding all challenges and overseeing the process.
B.
The Town shall provide a list of persons who have
returned absentee ballots for review by the public and challengers
at the meeting. Challenges must be made prior to the opening of the
ballot envelope for the voter being challenged.
C.
If a person has challenged an absentee voter as provided in § 16-6D of this chapter, an absentee election judge shall give that person's ballot envelope to the Board of Elections, who shall then hear the evidence and decide the challenge. If the Board of Elections upholds the challenge, the Chairperson shall write the word "CHALLENGED" on the ballot envelope, the reason for the challenge and then sign his/her name. When the challenge is denied, the ballot envelope shall be returned to the team to be opened and counted. The Board of Elections, after the close of the polls, shall seal the ballot envelopes for all voters who were successfully challenged in a carrier envelope along with a log sheet showing the serial number of the carrier envelope.
D.
Where absentee ballots have been prepared for counting in advance of the opening of the polls in accordance with § 16-17 and are in a carrier envelope, the absentee election judges, upon opening a carrier envelope, shall verify that the serial number on the log sheet is the same as the serial number on the carrier envelope. If the numbers are not the same, the judges shall report the discrepancy to the Board of Elections and then follow the instructions of the Board regarding that carrier envelope. If there are no discrepancies or the discrepancy has been resolved, the team shall remove the ballots from the carrier envelope.
E.
Where the ballots are in the ballot envelopes, a team
of absentee election judges shall:
(1)
Check the ballot envelopes against the list of absentee
voters. The teams shall not process any ballot envelopes that the
Town has not listed as returned on the list of absentee voters until
the discrepancy has been resolved to the Board of Election's satisfaction.
(2)
Reject ballot envelopes that the voter did not sign
or seal, or for a voter who is known to be dead. An absentee election
judge shall print the word "REJECTED" and the reason for the rejection
on the front of the ballot envelope and then at least two of the absentee
elections judges shall initial beside the entry.
(3)
Open each ballot envelope in such a manner as not
to deface or destroy the self-administered statement thereon or the
absentee ballot enclosed and then remove the ballot in such manner
as to avoid seeing the markings thereon from the ballot envelope.
If there is no ballot in the ballot envelope or if there is more than
one ballot in a ballot envelope, an absentee election judge shall
write the word "REJECTED" and the reason for the rejection on the
front of the ballot envelope and then at least two absentee elections
judges shall initial beside the entries. In the case where there was
more than one ballot in a ballot envelope, the team shall put the
ballots back into the ballot envelope.
[Amended 1-12-2018]
(4)
Once an absentee ballot judge has removed a ballot
from a ballot envelope, he/she shall put it face down on the table
without examining it. The team shall open ballot envelopes until they
have a sufficient number of ballots and ballot envelopes to fill a
carrier envelope, create a predetermined batch, or they have opened
all of the ballot envelopes for a municipal election district or the
election, whichever occurs first. The team shall then shuffle the
ballots and then proceed to tally the votes for that group of ballots.
F.
The team of absentee election judges shall then tally
the votes for a group of ballots on absentee vote tally sheets with
one person reading the votes and two others tallying the votes on
separate absentee vote tally sheets. Once the team has tallied a group
of ballots, they shall verify that the results on both absentee vote
tally sheet are the same. If the results are not the same, the team
shall re-tally the votes until the result is the same. During the
tally process, the team shall:
G.
Once a team has tallied the absentee votes for a group
of ballots, the members shall sign both copies of the absentee vote
tally sheet and then put the voted ballots, rejected ballots, ballot
envelopes, and one copy of the absentee vote tally sheet into a carrier
envelope. The team shall then complete the log sheet showing the serial
number of the carrier envelope, put the log sheet into the carrier
envelope and then seal the carrier envelope. The team shall then give
the carrier envelope and the second copy of the absentee vote tally
sheet to the Board of Elections.
H.
Upon receipt of a carrier envelope and the second
copy of the absentee vote tally sheet for that carrier envelope, the
Board of Elections shall:
(1)
Put the carrier envelope in a secure location until
such time it is needed for a recount, legal action, or is to be destroyed
as provided in this chapter; and
(2)
Record the results from the absentee vote tally sheet
onto a master absentee vote tally sheet for the election. After the
Board of Elections has received all of the absentee vote tally sheets
and has entered the results for each candidate on the master absentee
vote tally sheet, the Board shall total the votes for each candidate
and then, after the polls have closed, enter the results on the Vote
Tabulation for the election. The Board of Elections shall then seal
the absentee vote tally sheet(s) in a carrier envelope along with
a log sheet showing the serial number of the carrier envelope.
I.
Ballot envelopes received after the ballots have been
counted or the ballots for a specific municipal election district
have been counted shall be opened and tallied in accordance with the
above procedure except that they all shall be sealed in one or more
carrier envelopes, as necessary, after the polls have closed.
J.
The teams shall repeat the above process as many times
as necessary in order to count the absentee ballots.
K.
Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, when
the number of absentee ballots returned to the Town is less than five,
the Town may develop a counting procedure protective of the secrecy
of the ballot.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Board of Election may open absentee ballot envelopes in a public meeting in order to prepare them to be counted. Such meeting shall take place, upon proper notice, at any time between 8:00 a.m. of the day prior to the election and up to one hour before the polls are scheduled to open. The Town shall notify each candidate on the ballot that they may have challengers at the meeting during which the Board of Election opens the absentee ballots. At such meeting, the Board of Elections shall act in accordance with the same procedures as set out in § 16-16, Subsections A, B, C, and E(1) through (4) inclusive, with the exception that the absentee ballot judges shall not proceed to tally the votes for any group of ballots but shall then secure such ballots, ballot envelopes, and any rejected ballot envelopes in a carrier envelope along with the log sheet showing the serial number of the log sheet. The absentee ballot judges shall then seal the carrier envelope(s) and deliver it/them to the Board of Elections. The Board of Elections shall then secure the carrier envelope(s) in locked cabinets until opened at a subsequent public meeting to tally the ballots on the day of the election in accordance with § 16-16D and F through J.
A.
The Town shall purchase envelopes to be used as carrier
envelopes, which shall be security mailing envelopes, designed to
securely protect the contents thereof from tampering, removal, or
substitution without detection and shall be large enough to accommodate
multiple absentee ballots cast in the election.
B.
Carrier envelopes shall:
(1)
For all purposes of this article, be considered the
official ballot boxes for absentee votes cast during a given election;
(2)
Contain voted absentee ballots from the Town;
(3)
Be labeled to reflect the Town whose absentee ballots
are held inside; and
(4)
Ensure the security of said ballots in the event they
must be moved for the purposes of certifying an election or recounting
votes cast in an election.
C.
A sealed carrier envelope may be reopened only when
necessary to certify an election or recount votes cast in an election.
D.
In the event the Town must move absentee ballots for
the purposes of certifying an election, or recounting votes cast in
an election, it shall select the carrier envelopes for the affected
municipal election districts and move them, in a secure fashion, to
the location where the carrier envelopes will be opened and the votes
inside inspected.
E.
Upon completion of any inspection of votes pursuant
to this section, absentee ballots shall be returned to the carrier
envelopes from which they were removed and the carrier envelopes shall
be:
(1)
Resealed in a secure manner, or shall be placed in
another security envelope, for the purposes of securely protecting
the contents thereof from tampering, removal, or substitution without
detection; and
(2)
Put the carrier envelope in a secure location until
such time it is needed for a recount, legal action, or is to be destroyed
as provided in this chapter.
A.
The ballot of any elector choosing to vote by absentee
ballot may be challenged for the same causes and in the same manner
as provided in this title for other voters.
C.
If a challenge is made pursuant to Subsection A of this section, an absentee judge shall return the ballot to its ballot envelope, shall mark the ballot envelope as "CHALLENGED," and shall set the envelope aside in a secure location for consideration at a later time as provided elsewhere in this article. If a challenge is made pursuant to Subsection B of this section, an absentee judge shall mark the ballot envelope as "CHALLENGED" and shall set it aside in a secure location for consideration at a later time as provided elsewhere in this article.
D.
All challenges to absentee ballots must be resolved
before the counting of votes may be considered complete. Any challenge
not resolved by the absentee judges within a reasonable time of the
challenge having been made shall be referred to the Board of Elections
for resolution.
A.
No vote shall be accepted or counted if:
(1)
The statement of the absentee voter that appears on
the front of the ballot envelope is found to have been altered or
is not signed; or
[Amended 1-12-2018]
(2)
The absentee voter is not a duly qualified elector
entitled to vote in the Town;
(3)
The ballot envelope is open;
(4)
It is evident that the ballot envelope has been opened
and resealed; or
(5)
It is evident that the ballot envelope has been tampered
with or altered.
B.
If the ballot envelope has not been opened at the time an absentee judge decides that the offered ballot contained therein should not be accepted or voted for any of the reasons set forth in Subsection A of this section, it shall not be opened but shall instead be endorsed thereon as, "REJECTED," giving reason therefor.
C.
If the ballot envelope has been opened at the time an absentee judge decides that the offered ballot contained therein should not be accepted or voted for any of the reasons set forth in Subsection A of this section, the ballot shall be returned to its ballot envelope and the absentee judge shall endorse on the ballot envelope, "REJECTED," giving reason therefor.
D.
Whenever it is made to appear by due proof to an absentee
judge that any absentee voter, who has marked and forwarded the absentee
voter's ballot, has died, the ballot envelope containing the ballot
shall not be opened but shall be marked "REJECTED, DEAD," and shall
be preserved and disposed of as other rejected ballots.
E.
Whenever a ballot has not been counted but has been
rejected pursuant to this section, the appropriate notation shall
be made on the absentee ballot tally and the number of ballots so
rejected shall be noted on the certificates of election.
F.
Ballots rejected pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in a carrier envelope for the municipal election district
to which they apply.
A.
The Town shall maintain records providing for the
prevention of fraud and to make possible the tracing and detection
of any attempt to do so. Such records shall include, but shall not
be limited to, the following entries:
(1)
The name of elector;
(2)
The address at which the elector establishes eligibility
to vote;
(3)
The address where ballot is to be mailed;
(4)
The date the statement is received by the Town;
[Amended 1-12-2018]
(5)
The elector's municipal election district, if applicable;
(6)
The ballot envelope identification number;
(7)
The date the ballot is mailed or delivered to the
elector; and
(8)
The date the ballot is returned.
B.
The Town shall compile from its files a list of names
and addresses of all applicants for absentee ballots, and shall, upon
request, send current and complete copies thereof without cost to
candidates on the ballot in the forthcoming election. Such lists shall
be provided no later than two weeks prior to the date of the election.
