Counting votes and determining results in elections conducted with DREs

  1. Law
  2. Mississippi Code
  3. Elections
  4. Mississippi Election Code
  5. Voting Systems
  6. recording electronic voting equipment (DRE)
  7. Counting votes and determining results in elections conducted with DREs

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  1. In elections in which DRE units are used, the ballots shall be counted at the precinct under the direction of the officials in charge of the election. All persons who perform any duties at the precinct shall take the oath provided in Section 268, Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and only those persons shall touch any ballot, container, paper or machine used in the conduct of the count or be permitted in the immediate area where the ballots are counted.
  2. All proceedings at the precincts shall be open to the view of the public, but no person except one employed and designated for the purpose by the officials in charge of the election shall touch any ballot, any DRE unit or the tabulating equipment.
  3. After the polls have closed and all voting in the precinct has ceased, the poll manager shall shut down the DRE units and extract the election results from each unit as follows:
    1. The poll manager shall obtain the results tape from each DRE unit and verify that the number of ballots cast as recorded on the tape matches the public count number as displayed on the DRE unit; and
    2. The poll manager shall extract the memory card, if applicable, from each DRE unit.
    1. Upon completion of shutting down each DRE unit and extracting the election results, the poll manager shall cause to be completed and signed a ballot recap form, in sufficient counterparts, showing:
      1. The number of valid ballots;
      2. The number of spoiled ballots;
      3. The number of affidavit ballots;
      4. The number of accepted and rejected absentee ballots;
      5. The number of challenged and rejected ballots; and
      6. The number of unused paper ballots.
    2. The poll manager shall cause to be placed in the ballot box or supply container, should the supply container be capable of being sealed and secured, one (1) copy of the recap form, affidavit ballots, absentee ballots, spoiled ballots, challenged and rejected ballots and any unused paper ballots.
  5. The poll manager shall collect and retain the zero tape and the results tape for each DRE unit and place the tapes with the memory card, if any, for each unit and enclose all such items for all of the DRE units used in the precinct in the memory card transport bag which shall be sealed and initialed by the poll manager so that it cannot be opened without breaking the seal. The memory card transport bag shall be placed in the ballot box.
  6. The receiving and returning poll manager shall then deliver the sealed ballot box to the tabulating center for the county or municipality or to such other place designated by the officials in charge of the election and shall receive a receipt therefor. The copies of the recap forms, unused ballots, records and other materials shall be returned to the designated location and retained as provided by law.
  7. Upon receipt of the sealed ballot box and memory card transport bag that contains the zero tapes, results tapes and memory cards, the officials in charge of the election shall break the seal of the memory card transport bag and remove its contents. The officials in charge of the election shall then download the results stored on the memory card from each DRE unit into the election management system located at the central tabulation point of the county in order to obtain election results for certification.


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