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Pennsylvania Statutes § 3056 Instructions of voters and manner of voting in districts in which voting machines are used

⤴ Up to Article XII: Preparation for and Conduct of Primaries and Elections

Statute Text

(a) In districts in which voting machines are used, the election officers shall, with the aid of the diagrams authorized by this act and the mechanically operated model, instruct each elector before he enters the voting machine booth regarding the operation of the machine, and shall give the elector opportunity personally to operate the model. In election districts using full-scale models listing the actual ballot labels for the primary or election as the case may be, any elector who desires a demonstration on such full-size scale model shall have the right to select any registered elector who is legally entitled to be inside the polling place under the provisions of this act to give such elector a demonstration.
(b) If any voter, after entering the voting machine booth and before the closing of such booth, shall ask for further instructions concerning the manner of voting, any one of the election officers may give him such instructions, but no person giving a voter such instructions shall in any manner request, suggest or seek to persuade or induce any such elector to vote any particular ticket or for any particular candidate or for or against any particular question. After giving such instructions, and before the elector closes the booth or votes, the election officer shall retire, and the elector shall forthwith vote.
(c) At primaries, before a voter is admitted to the voting machine, it shall be adjusted by the election officer in charge thereof, so that such voter will only be able to vote for the candidates of the party in which he is registered and enrolled and for candidates for nonpartisan nomination, if any.
(d) At [primaries, he] all elections, the elector shall vote for each candidate individually by operating the key, handle, pointer or knob, upon or adjacent to which the name of such candidate is placed. [At elections, he may vote for each candidate individually by operating the key, handle, pointer or knob, upon or adjacent to which the names of candidates of his choice are placed, or he may vote a straight political party ticket in one operation by operating the straight political party lever of the political party or political body of his choice, if such machine has thereon a separate lever for all the candidates of the political body. He may also, after having operated the straight party lever, and before recording his vote, cancel the vote for any candidate of such political party or political body by replacing the individual key, handle, pointer or knob of such candidate, and may thereupon vote for a candidate of another party, or political body for the same office by operating the key, handle, pointer or knob, upon or adjacent to which the name of such candidate appears.] In the case of a question submitted to the vote of the electors, the elector shall operate the key, handle, pointer or knob corresponding to the answer which he desires to give.
(e) A voter may, at any primary or election, vote for any person for any office, for which office his name does not appear upon the voting machine as a candidate, by an irregular ballot containing the name of such person deposited, written or affixed in or upon the appropriate receptacle or device provided in or on the machine for that purpose, and in no other manner. Where two or more persons are to be elected to the same office, and the name of each candidate is placed upon or adjacent to a separate key, handle, pointer or knob, and the voting machine requires that all irregular ballots voted for that office be deposited, written or affixed in or upon a single receptacle or device, an elector may vote in or by such receptacle or device for one or more persons whose names do not appear upon the machine, with or without the names of one or more persons whose names do so appear. With these exceptions, no irregular ballot shall be cast on a voting machine for any person for any office, whose name appears on the machine as a candidate for that office, and any ballot so cast shall be void and not counted.
(f) At any general election at which presidential electors are to be chosen, each elector shall be permitted to vote by one operation for all the presidential electors of a political party or political body. For each party or body nominating presidential electors, a ballot label shall be provided containing only the words "Presidential Electors," preceded by the names of the party or body and followed by the names of the candidates thereof for the office of President and Vice-President, and the corresponding counter or registering device shall register votes cast for said electors when thus voted for collectively. If an elector desires to vote a ticket for presidential electors made up of the names of persons nominated by different parties or bodies, or partially of names of persons so in nomination and partially of names of persons not in nomination by any party or body, or wholly of names of persons not in nomination by any party or body, he may write or deposit a paper ballot prepared by himself in the receptacle provided in or on the machine for the purpose. The machine shall be so constructed that it will not be possible for any one voter to vote a straight party ticket for presidential electors and at the same time to deposit a ballot for presidential electors in a receptacle as [hereinabove] provided in this section . When the votes for presidential electors are counted, the votes appearing upon the counter or registering device corresponding to the ballot label containing the names of the candidates for president and vice-president of any party or body shall be counted as votes for each of the candidates for presidential elector of such party or body, and thereupon all candidates for presidential elector shall be credited, in addition, with the votes cast for them upon the ballots deposited in the machine, as [hereinabove] provided in this section .
(g) As soon as the elector has adjusted the voting machine so that it will record his choice for the various candidates to be voted for, and his answers to the various questions submitted, he shall operate the recording mechanism, and forthwith leave the voting machine booth.

History

Amended by P.L. TBD 2019 No. 77 , § 3.2 , eff. 10/31/2019 .

1937, June 3, P.L. 1333, art. XII, § 1216. Amended 1969, Nov. 21, P.L. 309, § 1.

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