§ 1227Canvass and Return of Votes in Districts in Which Voting Machines are Used

(a) If the type of voting
machine provided shall require the counters to be seen in order
to enable the election officers to canvass the vote, the
election officers, in the presence of the watchers and all other

persons who may be lawfully within the polling place, shall
then make visible the registering counters, and, for that
purpose, shall unlock and open the doors, or other covering
concealing the same, giving full view of all the counter
numbers. If the voting machine is equipped with mechanism for
printing paper proof sheets, the election officers shall
forthwith print not less than four proof sheets, and as many
more as may be necessary to supply one to each member of the
election board, overseer, candidate, watcher, representative
of a newspaper, and other persons who may be lawfully present
within the polling place, requesting the same. The judge of
election and the minority inspector shall then, under the
scrutiny of the majority inspector of election, the clerk
appointed by the minority inspector, the overseers, if any, and
the watchers, and in the order of the offices as their titles
are arranged on the machine, read from the counters or from one
of the proof sheets, as the case may be, and announce, in
distinct tones, the designation or designating number and letter
on each counter for each candidate's name, the result as shown
by the counter numbers, the votes recorded for each office for
persons other than nominated candidates, and the designation
or designating numbers and letters on each counter, and the
results as shown by the counter numbers for and against each
question voted on. The counters shall not be read consecutively
along the party rows or columns, but shall always be read along
the office columns or rows, completing the canvass for each
office or question before proceeding to the next.
   (b) The vote as registered shall be entered by the election
officers, in ink, on duplicate return sheets, and also on a
general return sheet and statement, all of which, after the
canvass is completed, shall be signed by the election officers,
the clerk, and certified by the overseers, if any. If any
election officer, clerk or overseer shall refuse to sign or
certify the general or duplicate return sheets or statement,
he shall write his reasons therefor upon said sheets. The vote
for presidential electors shall be computed and returned as
provided hereinbefore in section 1215 of this act. If more than
one voting machine is used in any election district, the vote
registered on each machine shall be ascertained in like manner,
and separately entered in appropriate spaces on the general and
duplicate return sheets and statement. The total vote cast for
each candidate, and for and against each question, shall then
be computed and entered on the general and duplicate return
sheets and statement. There shall also be entered on the general
return sheet and statement the number of voters who have voted
and in primaries, the number of voters who voted in each party,
as shown by the numbered lists of voters, district register,
and voting check list, and the number on each machine, as shown
by the public counters, and also the number registered on the
protective counter or device on each machine immediately prior
to the opening of the polls and immediately after the closing
thereof and sealing of the machine. The number or other
designation of each machine used shall also be entered thereon.
In the case of primary elections, duplicate return sheets shall
be prepared as for other elections. The registering counters
of the voting machine or the paper proof sheets, as the case
may be, shall remain exposed to view until the said returns,
and all other reports have been fully completed and checked by
the inspectors, clerk and overseers, if any. During such time,
any candidate, or duly accredited watcher, who may desire to
be present shall be admitted to the polling place. ((b) amended
Feb. 2, 1966, 1965 P.L.1859, No.585)

   (c) The proclamation of the result of the votes cast shall
be announced distinctly and audibly by the judge of election,
who shall read the name of each candidate, the designation or
designating numbers and letters of his counters, and the vote
registered on each counter, also the vote cast for and against
each question submitted. During such proclamation, ample
opportunity shall be given to any person lawfully present to
compare the results so announced with the counter dials of the
machine or with the paper proof sheets, as the case may be, and
any necessary corrections shall then and there be made by the
election officers, after which the doors or other cover of the
voting machine shall be closed and locked. Any ballots written,
deposited, or affixed, in or upon the voting machine, shall be
inclosed in properly sealed packages, and properly indorsed,
and shall be delivered by the judge of election as hereinafter
provided. The judge of election shall promptly deliver to the
county board, or their duly authorized representative, the keys
of the voting machine, inclosed in a sealed envelope, if the
construction of the voting machine shall permit their separate
return. Said envelope shall have indorsed thereon a certificate
of the election officers, stating the number of the machine,
the election district where it has been used, the number on the
seal, and the number on the protective counter or device at the
close of the polls.
   (d) The election officers, on the foregoing returns, shall
record any votes which have been cast for a person whose name
is not printed on the ballot labels, by means of an irregular
ballot, as defined herein. In returning any such votes which
have been written or deposited upon receptacles or devices
provided for the purpose, the election officers shall record
any such names exactly as they were written or deposited. ((d)
amended Oct. 31, 2019, P.L.552, No.77)