If the person in charge of the election convenes the absentee counting board on the day before the election, the board may only process the absentee ballots, as provided in § 12-19-10 , and may not manually count any ballots or use the automatic tabulating equipment to count the ballots

The absentee ballots may be counted by the automatic tabulating equipment on election day, prior to the closing of the polls, provided that any vote totals are not printed or displayed by any tabulating machine prior to the closing of the polls. The absentee ballot counting board may not manually count the absentee ballots prior to the closing of the polls. If ballots are processed by an automatic tabulating machine prior to the closing of the polls, the resolution board shall be present and notification of such processing shall be provided to each county party chairperson at least ten days before the election. Source: SL 1976, ch 108 , § 4; SL 1977, ch 113 ; SL 2005, ch 93 , § 6; SL 2021, ch 67 , § 1; SL 2026, ch 73 , § 4, eff. Mar. 26, 2026.