Canada Elections Act — E-2.01 13
13 The recount of the ballots from each of those envelopes shall be conducted in accordance with the following steps: (a) the handler shall choose the appropriate envelope; (b) if any ballots were placed with that envelope as a result of the earlier examination of another envelope, the handler shall place those ballots in a single pile (the “counting pile”); (c) the handler shall unseal the envelope and, taking the first of those ballots, (i) if a counting pile has already been established, place it on the counting pile, and (ii) if no counting pile has yet been established, establish one with that first ballot; (d) the handler shall invite all members of the recount team to examine — but not handle — the ballot; (e) the handler shall ascertain whether there is unanimous agreement in the recount team that the ballot (i) was correctly classified, or (ii) should be assigned to some other classification; (f) if there is no unanimous agreement, each representative of a candidate is entitled to call for one of their candidate’s representatives who is not a member of a recount team or their candidate’s legal counsel, or both, who may then make representations to the team; (g) if, after any such representations, there is still no unanimous agreement on the classification of the ballot, the ballot shall be treated as a disputed ballot, in which case (i) the handler shall take the ballot from the counting pile, print on the back of the ballot (with the pen or pencil supplied to the recount team in small but legible script), a number in the form “XX-Y” where “XX” is the ballot box number and “Y” is a unique sequential number starting at “1” for each disputed ballot within that box, (ii) the recorder shall make an entry for the disputed ballot in the register of disputed ballots in the Recount Ballot Box Report, indicating its number and the envelope from which it originated, and (iii) the handler shall put the disputed ballot with an additional envelope marked “disputed ballots”; (h) if there is unanimous agreement that the ballot was correctly classified, it shall remain on the counting pile; (i) if there is unanimous agreement that the ballot should be assigned to some other classification, the handler shall take it from the counting pile and (i) if the envelope containing ballots of that other classification has not yet been recounted, the handler shall place the ballot with that envelope and the recorder shall note the re-classification of the ballot and the reason for it on the Recount Ballot Box Report, and (ii) if the envelope containing ballots of that other classification has already been recounted, the handler shall place the ballot in that envelope and the recorder shall note the re-classification of the ballot and the reason for it on the Recount Ballot Box Report and adjust the number of ballots recorded in the report for that other classification accordingly; (j) for each subsequent ballot in the envelope, the handler shall place it on top of the counting pile, and steps (d) to (i) apply with respect to it; and (k) when all ballots from the envelope have been examined by the team, the handler shall count the ballots in the counting pile, the recorder shall make a note of that number on the Recount Ballot Box Report and the handler shall place those ballots in the envelope without sealing it.