802.1 The Executive Director, or his or her designee, shall make determinations on the validity of ballots.

802.2 Any election official who is uncertain whether a ballot is partially or totally invalid shall refer the ballot to the Executive Director, or his or her designee, for a determination.

802.3 Any poll watcher or election observer who is uncertain whether a ballot is partially or totally invalid may refer the ballot to the Executive Director, or his or her designee, for a determination.

802.4 Except as provided in this section, only official ballots shall be valid and counted. An official ballot is a sheet of paper, or electronic card, filmstrip or other device that has been approved by the Board for use during an election on which votes are recorded and stored for purposes of tabulation.

802.5 If a qualified uniformed services or overseas voter chooses to use a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or chooses to electronically submit his or her ballot, it shall be duplicated for all eligible contests, and the duplicated ballot shall be treated as an official ballot and deemed valid.

802.6 If a vote center was authorized by the Board to use reproductions of official paper ballots because of an emergency, the reproductions shall be duplicated and the duplicated ballots shall be considered official ballots and deemed valid.

802.7 If a ballot marked "Challenged" or "Special" is placed in a ballot box and received at a counting place other than in a Special Ballot Envelope, it shall be deemed invalid.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 27 DCR 1836 (May 2, 1980), incorporating the text of Proposed Rulemaking published at 27 DCR 1222 (March 21, 1980); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 30 DCR 5289 (October 14, 1983); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 51 DCR 5063 (May 14, 2004); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 51 DCR 7426 (July 30, 2004); as amended by Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking published at 57 DCR 7705 (August 20, 2010)[EXPIRED]; as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 57 DCR 11149, 11151 (November 26, 2010); as amended by Emergency and Federal Rulemaking published at 58 DCR 10752 (December 16, 2012)[EXPIRED]; as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 58 DCR 941, 969 (February 10, 2012); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 62 DCR 14744 (November 13, 2015); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 65 DCR 6543 (June 15, 2018); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 69 DCR 009504 (July 29, 2022); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 70 DCR 012730 (September 22, 2023).