§ 1114-AReturns

(a) By the fourth day prior to
each election, the county board of elections shall have the
central automatic tabulating equipment tested to ascertain that
it will accurately count the votes cast for all offices and all
questions. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall
be given at least forty-eight hours prior to the test by
newspaper publication in the county in accordance with section
106, such notice to be published once. The test shall be
conducted by processing a preaudited group of district totals
cards or ballots on which are recorded votes for each candidate
and on each question. In such test a different number of valid
votes shall be assigned to each candidate for an office and for
and against each question. If any error is detected, the cause
of it shall be ascertained and corrected and an errorless count
shall be made and certified to by the county board of elections
prior to election day. All test and program materials shall
then be sealed by the county board of elections until their use
on election day. The central automatic tabulating equipment
shall pass the same test at the conclusion of the actual
election count before the election returns are approved as
official. On completion of the count, the programs, test
materials, and district totals cards or ballots shall be sealed
and retained according to the provisions contained in this act
for the retention of paper ballots.
   (b) (1) All proceedings at the central tabulation center
shall be under the direction of the county board of elections
or of such persons as it may designate and shall be conducted
under the observation of the public insofar as is practical,
but no persons except those authorized for the purpose shall
touch any ballot or district totals card. All persons who are
engaged in processing and counting the ballots and district
totals cards shall be deputized and take an oath that they will
faithfully perform their assigned duties.
   (2) Each political party or political body represented on
the official ballot may have one technically qualified person,
authorized by the county chairman and deputized by the county
board of elections, present during the testing of the central
automatic tabulating equipment and the actual counting of the
ballot or district totals cards. Such persons shall be allowed
to make independent tests of the equipment prior to, during,
and following the vote count: Provided, however, That such
testing shall in no way interfere with the official tabulation
of the ballots and district totals cards. In addition, each
political party or political body shall be entitled to have
observers at the central tabulation center, in a number, as
determined by the county board of elections, sufficient to
permit accurate observation of the receipt, handling,
duplication, and processing of all ballots and district totals
cards.
   (3) If any ballots or district totals cards are damaged or
defective so that they cannot properly be counted by the central
automatic tabulating equipment, a true duplicate copy shall be
made and substituted for any such damaged ballot or card. All
such duplicate ballots or cards shall also be clearly labeled

"duplicate," and shall bear a serial number which shall be
recorded on the damaged or defective ballot or card.
   (c) The return printed by the central automatic tabulating
equipment, to which have been added write-in votes as recorded
on the district reporting form and absentee votes, shall, when
certified by the county board of elections, constitute the
official return of each election district. Upon completion of
the count, the official returns shall be open to the public.
   (d) If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all
or a part of the ballots or district totals cards with automatic
tabulating equipment, the county board of elections may direct
that such ballots or cards be counted manually, following as
far as practicable the provisions of this act governing the
counting of paper ballots.
   (e) During the course of central tabulation of ballots or
district totals cards, the county board of elections may
unofficially report the progress of the count for each candidate
and on any question.
   (1114-A added July 11, 1980, P.L.600, No.128)