24.2-668 - Pollbooks, statements of results, and ballots to be sealed and delivered to clerk or general registrar.
§ 24.2-668. Pollbooks, statements of results, and ballots to be sealed anddelivered to clerk or general registrar.
A. After ascertaining the results and before adjourning, the officers shallput the pollbooks, the duplicate statements of results, and any printedinspection and return sheets in the envelopes provided by the State Board.The officers shall seal the envelopes and direct them to the clerk of thecircuit court for the county or city. The pollbooks, statements, and sheetsthus sealed and directed, the sealed counted ballots envelope or container,and the unused, defaced, spoiled and set aside ballots properly accountedfor, packaged and sealed, shall be conveyed by one of the officers to bedetermined by lot, if they cannot otherwise agree, to the clerk of court bynoon on the day following the election.
The clerk shall retain custody of the pollbooks, paper ballots, and otherelections materials until the time has expired for initiating a recount,contest, or other proceeding in which the pollbooks, paper ballots, and otherelections materials may be needed as evidence and there is no proceedingpending. The clerk shall (i) secure all pollbooks, paper ballots and otherelection materials in sealed boxes; (ii) place all of the sealed boxes in avault or room not open to the public or to anyone other than the clerk andhis staff; (iii) cause such vault or room to be securely locked except whenaccess is necessary for the clerk and his staff; and (iv) upon the initiationof a recount, certify that these security measures have been taken inwhatever form is deemed appropriate by the chief judge.
After that time the clerk shall deliver the pollbooks to the generalregistrar who shall return the pollbooks or transfer a copy of the electronicdata to the State Board as directed by § 24.2-114 for voting credit purposes.After the pollbooks are returned by the State Board, the general registrarshall retain the pollbooks in his principal office for two years from thedate of the election. The clerk shall retain the statement of results and anyprinted inspection and return sheets for two years and may then destroy them.
B. The local electoral board may direct that the officers of election, inlieu of conveying the materials to the clerk of the circuit court as providedin subsection A of this section, shall convey the materials to the principaloffice of the general registrar on the night of the election or the morningfollowing the election as the board directs. The general registrar shallsecure and retain the materials in his office and shall convey to the clerkof the court, by noon of the day following the ascertainment of the resultsof the election by the electoral board, all of the election materials. Thegeneral registrar shall retain for public inspection one copy of thestatement of results.
C. If an electronic pollbook is used, the data disc or cartridge containingthe electronic records of the election, or, alternately, a printed copy ofthe pollbook records of those who voted, shall be transmitted, sealed andretained as required by this section, and otherwise treated as the pollbookfor that election for all purposes subsequent to the election. Nothing inthis title shall be construed to require that the equipment or software usedto produce the electronic pollbook be sealed or retained along with thepollbook, provided that the records for the election have been transferred orprinted according to the instructions of the State Board.
(Code 1950, §§ 24-232, 24-267, 24-268, 24-270; 1970, c. 462, §§ 24.1-143,24.1-144; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 247; 1972, c. 620; 1973, c. 30; 1975, c. 515;1978, c. 778; 1981, c. 425; 1992, c. 293; 1993, c. 641; 1995, c. 197; 1996,c. 8; 1997, cc. 438, 456; 2002, c. 190; 2003, c. 1015; 2004, cc. 410, 835;2007, c. 285.)