Section 17-9-35

Preservation of ballots and records of voting machines.

The voting machines shall remain locked against voting for the time provided by law for the filing of contests and then shall have the seal broken only on the order of that body which, under the general provisions of law, now has charge of and control over ballot boxes in that county, municipality or other political subdivision, and if, in the opinion of such body, the contest has developed or is likely to develop, shall remain locked until such time as ordered opened by the court hearing the contest, or until a final determination thereof; provided, that on the order of any court of competent jurisdiction or on the order of any legislative body or governing body having jurisdiction over such election, the seal may be broken for the purpose of proper investigation and when such investigation is completed, the machine shall again be sealed and across the envelope containing the keys shall be written the signature of the person or persons having broken same; and provided further, that in the event another election is held during the time for which the machines are required by this section to be locked and the machines are needed at such election, the board charged with canvassing the returns of the election at which the machines were last used shall be authorized to break the seal and make a record of the numbers on all counters on each machine and to remove all of the election records from the machine. The canvassing board shall securely seal all records taken from a machine in an envelope or package and on the outside thereof label the package in such manner as to indicate plainly the machine from which they were removed and the month, day and the year of the election of which they are records. Each member of the canvassing board shall certify to the accuracy of the record of the numbers on the counters and shall sign the envelope or package across the seal. This certificate and all other records removed from the voting machines shall be delivered to the officer to whom paper ballots are delivered after an election and preserved by him for the same length of time and then destroyed in the same manner that paper ballots are handled.

(Acts 1939, No. 292, p. 443; Code 1940, T. 17, §114; Acts 1956, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 143, p. 207.)