Before preparing a voting machine for an election at which candidates for more than one political party or candidates nominated by petition are to be voted for, written notice must be mailed to the chairman of the local committee of each of the political parties that have certified candidates, stating the time and place where the machines will be prepared. At this time, one representative of each of these political parties must be afforded an opportunity to see that the machines are in proper condition for use at the election. When a machine has been examined by these representatives, it must be locked or sealed with a numbered seal in their presence. The representatives must certify as to the numbers of the machines, that all counters are set at zero (000), as to the number registered on the protective counter, and the number on the seal. When a voting machine has been properly prepared for an election, it must be locked or sealed against voting, and any necessary seals or keys to the machine retained in the custody of the board of voter registration and elections or other electoral board and delivered to the managers of election as provided in this chapter.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 23-415; 1952 Code Section 23-415; 1950 (46) 2059; 1996 Act No. 434, Section 14, eff June 4, 1996; 2000 Act No. 392, Section 6, eff August 1, 2000.

Code Commissioner's Note

Pursuant to the directive in 2014 Act No. 196, Section 8, at the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to county election commissions or commissioners or county boards of voter registration were changed to the "Board of Voter Registration and Elections" and board members as appropriate.

Effect of Amendment

The 1996 amendment substituted "must" for "shall" throughout this section, replaced "such" with "this" in the second sentence and with "these" in the third sentence, substituted "of these political parties" for "such political party" in the second sentence, in the third sentence deleted "metal" following "a numbered", in the fourth sentence substituted "The" for "Such", in the fifth sentence substituted ", sealed, and the keys to the machine" for "and sealed and the keys thereof shall be" and substituted "as provided in this chapter" for "as herein provided", and made other nonsubstantive changes.

The 2000 amendment in the first sentence deleted "two" before "political parties" and substituted "that have certified candidates" and "which at the general election next preceding cast the highest and next highest number of votes", in the third sentence added "locked or", and in the fifth sentence added "or sealed" before "against" and "any necessary seals or" before "keys" and deleted "sealed," following "voting,".