CHAPTER 48 HOUSE BILL No. 2214 An Act concerning elections; relating to handling ballots after canvass; establishing write-in boards; amending K.S.A. 25-3008 and repealing the existing section. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

      Section  1. K.S.A. 25-3008 is hereby amended to read as follows: 25-
3008. Before leaving the voting place the supervising judge shall ascertain
that the election supplies and ballots that are to be returned have been
packaged, packed and separated as provided in this section:

      (a) All ballots both voted and unvoted, except void, objected to and
provisional ballots, shall be placed in bags or sacks. Such bags or sacks
shall be sealed and appropriately labeled. The method of sealing and
labeling shall be a method approved by the secretary of state and directed
by the county election officer.

      (b) Ballots that are spoiled and returned by the voter shall be marked
``spoiled'' on the back thereof and shall be placed in the bags or envelopes
specified in subsection (a) of this section.

      (c) Provisional ballot envelopes containing ballots, with applications
for registration attached, shall be placed in an appropriately labeled en-
velope, and shall be sealed as in subsection (a) of this section.

      (d) Objected to ballots shall be placed in an appropriately labeled
envelope, and shall be sealed as in subsection (a) of this section.

      (e) Ballots that are cast but not counted shall be marked ``void'' on
the back thereof and shall be placed in the same envelope that contains
objected to ballots.

      (f) Ballots specified in subsections (a) and (b) shall be separately pack-
aged from ballots specified in subsections (c), (d) and (e).

      (g) Poll books, registration books, party affiliation lists, tally sheets,
abstracts and election supplies not listed in the preceding subsections of
this section shall be returned sealed but not packaged with the items
specified in subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f).

      (h)  (1) If upon receiving the sealed bags or sacks of ballots after the
original canvass, the county election officer discovers that the board which
conducted the original canvass failed to provide a tally sheet of write-in
votes, the county election officer may appoint a special write-in board to
unseal the ballots and count any write-in votes which appear on the bal-
lots. Such write-in votes shall be reported to the county election officer,
who shall include them with the official results of the election. When the
board completes its tally of write-in votes, the bags or sacks shall be re-
sealed.

      (2) The special write-in board shall be appointed by the county elec-
tion officer from the election boards of the county or from a pool of trained
board workers maintained by the county election officer. One member of
the board shall be designated by the county election officer as a super-
vising judge, and the remaining members of the board shall be of different
political parties to the extent practicable.

      Sec.  2. K.S.A. 25-3008 is hereby repealed.

      Sec.  3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.

Approved April 10, 2003.
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