Vermont § 2493 - Rules for use of vote tabulators; audits

§ 2493. Rules for use of vote tabulators; audits

• (a) The Secretary of State shall adopt rules governing the use and the selection of any
  vote tabulator in the State. These rules shall include requirements that: (1) All municipalities that have voted to use a vote tabulator shall use a uniform vote
  tabulator approved by the Secretary of State. (2) The Secretary of State shall provide for the security of vote tabulators at all times.
  Vote tabulators, not including the ballot box portion, shall be locked in a vault
  or a secure location at all times when not in use. (3)(A) The Secretary of State shall conduct a random postelection audit of any polling place
  election results for a general election within 30 days of the election. (B) If the Secretary determines that a random audit shall be conducted of the election
  results in a town or city, the town clerk shall direct two members of the board of
  civil authority to transport the ballot bags to the office of the Secretary not later
  than 10:00 a.m. on the morning when the Secretary has scheduled the audit. (C) The Secretary shall open the ballot bags and conduct the audit in the same manner
  as ballots are counted under sections 2581 through 2588 of this chapter. The Secretary
  shall publicly announce the results of the audit as well as the results from the original
  return of the vote. (D) If the Secretary finds that the audit indicates that there was possible fraud in the
  count or return of votes, he or she shall refer the results to the Attorney General
  for possible prosecution. (4)(A) All vote tabulators shall be set to reject a ballot that contains an overvote and
  the voter shall be provided the opportunity to obtain another ballot and correct the
  overvote. If an early voter absentee ballot contains an overvote, the elections official
  shall override the vote tabulator and count all races except any race that contains
  an overvote. (B) All vote tabulators shall be set not to reject undervotes. (5) Establish a process for municipalities using vote tabulators, whereby markings on
  ballots that are unreadable by a vote tabulator may be transferred by a pair of election
  officials, who are not members of the same political party, to ballots that are readable
  by the vote tabulator. (6) Establish a process for using vote tabulators in recounts. (b) Each vote tabulator shall be tested using official ballots that are marked clearly
  as “test ballots” at least 10 days prior to an election. This test shall be open to
  the public. (c) The same vote tabulator or vote tabulator memory card used in any local, primary,
  or general election shall not be used in a recount of that election. (d) A vote tabulator shall be a stand-alone device that shall not be connected to any
  other device or connections such as wireless connections, cable connections, cellular
  telephones, or telephone lines. (e) A municipality only may use a vote tabulator as provided in this title that registers
  and counts votes cast on paper ballots and that otherwise meets the requirements of
  this title. A municipality shall not use any type of voting machine on which a voter
  casts his or her vote. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1979, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 51; 2001, No. 5, § 5; 2003, No. 59, § 22; 2003, No. 94 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2007, No. 54, § 8; 2015, No. 30, § 12, eff. May 26, 2015; 2017, No. 50, § 23.)