The following procedure in the order provided must be used in recounting any election counted by an automatic tabulating system:

1. (1) If a discrepancy in the number of ballots for a precinct is discovered during ballot tabulation and is not resolved at that time, the county auditor must make every effort to resolve the discrepancy in the time between the official county canvass and prior to the convening of the recount board;
2. (2) The recount board shall examine each ballot to determine if the official stamp has been placed on the ballot. The recount board may not count any vote on an unstamped ballot;
3. (3) If any discrepancy remains after subdivisions (1) and (2) have been completed and the total number of ballots in a precinct exceeds the number of names in the pollbook, the ballots must be placed in a box and the recount board must draw from the box the number of ballots equal to the excess. The recount board shall place the excess ballots in an envelope labeled "ballots drawn by recount board to justify totals";
4. (4) The recount board shall review ballots for proper marking procedure according to the voting instructions. Each ballot that is marked in a manner other than as provided in the instructions to voter and cannot be counted by the machine must be manually counted or duplicated in the manner used by a resolution board and the duplicate counted by machine. The recount board shall determine the voter's intent based on the standards found in § 5:02:09:22;
5. (5) The recount board shall review each ballot to determine if there are any write-in votes. Any write-in vote may not be counted but all other votes for which the voter's intent can be determined must be counted;
6. (6) The recount board shall examine the ballots reviewed by the resolution board to determine the correctness of the initial rejection or duplication. The recount board shall rule on whether each mark is to be counted or rejected according to § 5:02:09:22;
7. (7) The recount board shall supervise the test of the automatic tabulating equipment according to § 5:02:09:01.02. The board may conduct additional tests of the equipment including a comparison with manual counted results from a precinct;
8. (8) The recount board shall supervise the count of the ballots with the automatic tabulating equipment. A manual count may be conducted to verify the accuracy of the count by the automatic tabulating equipment. If any discrepancy is found, the discrepancy must be resolved before the recount is concluded. If any vote cannot be accurately counted by the automatic tabulating equipment but can be manually counted, the manual count tally of that vote shall be added to the count by the automatic tabulating equipment;
9. (9) The recount board shall complete the Certificate of Disputed Ballot as provided in § 5:02:19:09;
10. (10) Any question arising on the recount must be determined by majority vote of the recount board; and
11. (11) The recount board shall certify the new returns as printed by the automatic tabulating equipment or as manually counted as the "Official Returns" for the election by completing the Certificate of Recount as provided in § 5:02:19:08. The Certificate of Recount must be filed with the person in charge of the election and constitutes the final returns for the election in that jurisdiction. If the recount involved an election canvassed by the State Board of Canvassers, a duplicate original of the Certificate of Recount must be forwarded to the secretary of state to be incorporated into the statewide totals as provided by SDCL 12-21-39.

Source: 3 SDR 69, effective April 10, 1977; 6 SDR 25, effective September 24, 1979; 21 SDR 77, effective October 24, 1994; 26 SDR 168, effective June 25, 2000; 28 SDR 99, effective January 17, 2002; 29 SDR 177, effective July 2, 2003; 33 SDR 230, effective July 1, 2007; 36 SDR 112, effective January 11, 2010 ; 51 SDR 141, effective July 1, 2025 .

General Authority: SDCL 12-17B-17 (4).

Law Implemented: SDCL 12-17B-7 , 12-17B-16 .

Prior versions effective: 2010-01-11.