The Resolution of Election Disputes: Legal Principles that Control Election Challenges Chapter 3. Strict Compliance is Required With Mandatory Procedures, but not With Directory Procedures • • • • • • A violation of mandatory requirements voids a ballot. A statute is mandatory if it says that failure to act in the way the statute describes will void the ballot. If a procedure is called into question while the procedure still can be corrected (i.e., before the election), the statute is mandatory. When it is too late to correct an irregularity (after the election), a statute is directory unless the statute says that failure to follow its procedures will void the ballot. Officials’ gross negligence defeats the will of the voters and voids the election. Technical irregularities usually do not void an election if they do not change the election results. • Substantial compliance with directory procedures will be found when the will of the voter is clear. Chapter 4. Fraud Invalidates the Ballot, but the Will of the Voter Will Still be Respected • • • • A vote that is illegally cast is invalid and cannot be counted. Fraudulent votes cannot be included when determining the will of the electorate. A court will void a precinct’s election results if violations of statutory requirements are so flagrant, extensive and corrupt as to destroy the fairness and equality of the election. Identifying marks on the ballot are prohibited: o to protect the secrecy of the elections, o to discourage bribery, fraud and corruption, and o to protect the integrity of the ballot by preventing vote-buying schemes. • But an unusual mark on a ballot is not evidence of fraud unless there is a deliberate intent to place an identifying mark on the ballot. Chapter 5. Add in the Ballots Determined to be Legal, Subtract the Ballots Determined to be Illegal, Unless the Fairness of the Election has Been Undermined • After the illegal votes have been subtracted from the appropriate candidates’ totals, and the legal votes have been added to the appropriate candidates’ totals, the courts will declare that the candidate with the most votes is the victor. 132