§ 1222Count and Return of Votes in Districts in Which Ballots are Used

(a) As soon as all the ballots have been properly accounted
for, and those outside the ballot box, as well as the "Voting
Check List," numbered lists of voters and district register
sealed, the election officers shall forthwith open the ballot
box, and take therefrom all ballots therein, and at primaries,
separate the same according to the party to which they belong.
The ballots shall then be counted one by one, and a record made
of the total number, and at primaries of the total number cast
for each party. Then the judge, under the scrutiny of the
minority inspector, or the minority inspector, under the
scrutiny of the judge, in the presence of the other officers,
clerks, and of the overseers, if any, and within the hearing
and sight of the watchers outside the enclosed space, shall
read aloud the names of the candidates marked or inserted upon
each ballot (at primaries the ballots of each party being read
in sequence), together with the office for which the person
named is a candidate, and the answers contained on the ballots
to the questions submitted, if any, and the majority inspector
and clerks shall carefully enter each vote as read, and keep
account of the same in ink in triplicate tally papers
(triplicate tally papers for each party at primaries) to be

provided by the county board of elections for that purpose, all
three of which shall be made at the same time. All ballots,
after being removed from the box, shall be kept within the
unobstructed view of all persons in the voting room until
replaced in the box. No person while handling the ballots shall
have in his hand any pencil, pen, stamp or other means of
marking or spoiling any ballot. The election officers shall
forthwith proceed to canvass and compute the votes cast, and
shall not adjourn or postpone the canvass or computation until
it shall have been fully completed.
   (b) When the vote cast for the different persons named upon
the ballots and upon the questions, if any, appearing thereon,
shall have been fully recorded in the tally papers and counted,
the election officers shall duly certify to the number of votes
cast for each person (upon the respective party tickets at
primaries), and shall prepare in ink two (2) general returns,
showing, in addition to the entries made thereon as aforesaid,
the total number of ballots received from the county board (the
total of each party at primaries), the number of ballots cast
(the number of each party at primaries), the number of ballots
(of each party at primaries) declared void, and the number of
ballots spoiled and cancelled, and any blank ballots cast, as
well as the votes cast for each candidate. At elections, the
number of votes cast for each candidate by each political party
or political body of which such candidate is a nominee shall
be separately stated. In an immediate column to the left
thereto, the number of votes received by each candidate upon
all ballots shall be entered, such column to be of convenient
width and shall be headed "number of votes received." The total
number of votes received by each candidate shall be entered in
a column on the extreme right-hand side of the return sheets,
which column shall be of convenient width and shall be headed
"total number of votes."
   Nothing in this section contained shall be construed to
authorize or permit the canvassing, counting or tallying ballots
with any less degree of strictness than otherwise required by
law.
   (c) In returning any votes cast for any person whose name
is not printed on the ballot, the election officers shall record
any such names exactly as they were written or stamped upon the
ballot. In districts in which paper ballots or ballot cards are
electronically tabulated, stickers or labels may not be used
to mark ballots. A vote cast by means of a sticker or label
affixed to a ballot or ballot card shall be void and may not
be counted.
   (1222 amended Oct. 31, 2019, P.L.552, No.77)