§ 7-5-309 - Voting procedure. - Arkansas Statutes

7-5-309. Voting procedure.

(a) (1) At general, primary, special, and school elections in counties that use paper ballots, the county board of election commissioners shall provide in each polling site at least one (1) voting booth for each fifty (50) registered electors voting in the last-preceding comparable election.

(2) Each voting booth shall be situated so as to permit a voter to prepare his or her ballot screened from observation and shall be furnished with any supplies and conveniences as will enable the voter to prepare his or her ballot.

(3) The voting booths shall be situated in the polling site in plain view of the poll workers.

(4) A person other than the poll workers and those admitted for the purpose of voting shall not be permitted within the immediate voting area, which shall be considered as within six feet (6') of the voting booths, except by authority of the election judge and then only when necessary to keep order and enforce the law.

(b) Before giving the voter a ballot, a poll worker shall:

(1) Initial the back of the ballot;

(2) Remove the ballot stub; and

(3) Place the stub into the stub box provided.

(c) (1) (A) Upon receiving his or her ballot, the voter shall proceed to mark it by placing an appropriate mark.

(B) A voter shall not be allowed more than five (5) minutes to mark his or her ballot.

(2) The voter shall then personally deposit the ballot into the ballot box provided.

(d) (1) The voter shall not be required to sign, initial, or in any way identify himself or herself with the ballot, the ballot stub, or the list of voters other than in the manner set forth in this section.

(2) However, a poll worker may inspect the back of the ballot before the voter deposits it to see if it has been initialed by an election official.

(e) After having voted or having declined to do so, the voter shall immediately depart from the polling site.

(f) A person shall not be permitted to carry a ballot outside of the polling place.

(g) (1) If a paper ballot is left at a voting booth or anywhere else in the polling site without being inserted into the ballot box by the voter before departing the polling site, a poll worker shall:

(A) Write "Abandoned" on the face of the paper ballot;

(B) Place the paper ballot into an envelope marked "Abandoned Ballot";

(C) Note in writing on the outside of the envelope all circumstances surrounding the abandoned ballot; and

(D) Preserve the abandoned ballot separately.

(2) The county board of election commissioners shall not count the ballot.

(h) (1) If a paper ballot that is fed by a voter into an electronic vote tabulating device at the polling site is rejected by the device but is still in the receiving part of the counter and the voter has not reported to a poll worker his or her desire to cancel or replace the ballot before departing the polling site, two (2) poll workers shall take action to override warnings on the device and complete the process of casting the ballot.

(2) The poll workers shall document:

(A) The time;

(B) The name of the voter;

(C) The names of the poll workers completing the process of casting the ballot; and

(D) All other circumstances surrounding the abandoned ballot.