Sec. 18. (a) Except as provided in subsection (d), the county election board in a county using a ballot card voting system shall provide ballot cards to the precinct election board that permit voters to cast write-in votes for each officer to be voted for at that election.

     (b) The ballot cards provided under subsection (a) must be:

(1) designed to be folded; or

(2) accompanied by a secrecy envelope;

to ensure the secrecy of each of the votes cast by a voter.

     (c) This subsection is enacted to comply with 52 U.S.C. § 21081 by establishing uniform and nondiscriminatory standards to define what constitutes a vote on an optical scan voting system. Except as provided in subsection (d), a write-in vote shall be cast by making a voting mark on the appropriate place on the ballot and printing the name of the candidate and the title of the office (if the title of the office is not already printed on the ballot) in the space provided for write-in votes on a ballot card or secrecy envelope.

     (d) Space for write-in voting for an office is not required if:

(1) there are no declared write-in candidates for that office; or

(2) the marking device allows for entry of a write-in candidate that can be read by a tabulator.

However, procedures must be implemented to permit write-in voting for candidates for federal offices.

[Pre-1986 Recodification Citation: 3-2-4-4(d) part.]

As added by P.L.5-1986, SEC.7. Amended by P.L.4-1991, SEC.106; P.L.38-1999, SEC.47; P.L.176-1999, SEC.80; P.L.239-2001, SEC.10; P.L.209-2003, SEC.156; P.L.14-2004, SEC.131; P.L.221-2005, SEC.78; P.L.13-2014, SEC.4; P.L.128-2015, SEC.189; P.L.278-2019, SEC.105.