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Pennsylvania Statutes § 2730 Equipment and arrangement of polling places; guard rail; number of voting compartments or voting machines

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Statute Text

(a) The county board of elections shall cause all rooms used as polling places to be suitably provided with heat and light, and, in districts in which ballots are used, with a sufficient number of voting compartments or booths with proper supplies, in which electors may conveniently mark their ballots, with a curtain, screen or door in the upper part of the front of each compartment or booth so that in the marking thereof they may be screened from the observation of others. Every polling place shall consist of a single room, every part of which is within the unobstructed view of those present therein, and shall be furnished with a guard rail or barrier enclosing the inner portion of the said room, which guard rail or barrier shall be so constructed and placed that only such persons as are inside said rail or barrier can approach within six feet of the ballot box and voting compartments, or booths, or voting machines, as the case may be. The ballot box and voting compartments or booths shall be so arranged in the voting room within the enclosed space as to be in full view of those persons in the room outside the said guard rail or barrier. The voting machine or machines shall be so placed in the voting room within the enclosed space that, unless its construction shall otherwise require, the ballot labels on the face of the machine can be plainly seen by the election officers, overseers and watchers when the machine is not occupied by an elector.
(b) The number of voting compartments to be furnished to each polling place shall not be less than one for every two hundred (200) registered qualified electors, or fraction thereof in the election district. The number of voting machines to be furnished to polling places in which voting machines are used shall be not more than one machine for each three hundred and fifty (350) registered electors, or fraction thereof, nor less than one machine for each six hundred (600) registered electors, or fraction thereof, in such election district: Provided, however, That the court of common pleas having jurisdiction, upon petition presented by either the county election board or by ten (10) or more registered qualified electors of an election district, may order that additional voting machines or voting compartments be provided for any such election district if the court shall be of the opinion that such additional voting machines or voting compartments shall be necessary in such district for the convenience of the electors and the public interests. The county shall provide equal distribution of voting machines or voting compartments in election districts containing a similar number of electors.
(c) The county board may make such arrangements as it deems proper for the storage of election equipment in the various election districts of the county at such times of the year that it will not be used for election purposes, and may fix reasonable compensation therefor.

History

1937, June 3, P.L. 1333, art. V, § 530. Amended 1998, Feb. 13, P.L. 72, No. 18, § 4, imd. effective.

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