(10 ILCS 5/24C-9)
Sec. 24C-9. Testing of Direct Recording Electronic Voting
System Equipment and Programs; Custody of Programs, Test
Materials and Ballots. Prior to the public test, the election
authority shall conduct an errorless pre-test of the Direct
Recording Electronic Voting System equipment and programs to
determine that they will correctly detect voting defects and
count the votes cast for all offices and all public questions.
On any day not less than 5 days prior to the election day, the
election authority shall publicly test the Direct Recording
Electronic Voting System equipment and programs to determine
that they will correctly detect voting errors and accurately
count the votes legally cast for all offices and on all public
questions. Public notice of the time and place of the test
shall be given at least 48 hours before the test by publishing
the notice in one or more newspapers within the election
jurisdiction of the election authority, if a newspaper is
published in that jurisdiction. If a newspaper is not published
in that jurisdiction, notice shall be published in a newspaper
of general circulation in that jurisdiction. Timely written
notice stating the date, time, and location of the public test
shall also be provided to the State Board of Elections. The
test shall be open to representatives of the political parties,
the press, representatives of the State Board of Elections, and
the public. The test shall be conducted by entering a pre-
audited group of votes designed to record a predetermined number
of valid votes for each candidate and on each public question,
and shall include for each office one or more ballots having
votes exceeding the number allowed by law to test the ability of
the automatic tabulating equipment to reject the votes. The
test shall also include producing an edit listing. In those
election jurisdictions where in-precinct counting equipment is
used, a public test of both the equipment and program shall be
conducted as nearly as possible in the manner prescribed above.
The State Board of Elections may select as many election
jurisdictions as the Board deems advisable in the interests of
the election process of this State, to order a special test of
the automatic tabulating equipment and program before any
regular election. The Board may order a special test in any
election jurisdiction where, during the preceding 12 months,
computer programming errors or other errors in the use of System
resulted in vote tabulation errors. Not less than 30 days
before any election, the State Board of Elections shall provide
written notice to those selected jurisdictions of their intent
to conduct a test. Within 5 days of receipt of the State Board
of Elections' written notice of intent to conduct a test, the
selected jurisdictions shall forward to the principal office of
the State Board of Elections a copy of all specimen ballots.
The State Board of Elections' tests shall be conducted and
completed not less than 2 days before the public test and under the
supervision of the Board. The vendor, person, or other private entity shall be solely responsible for the production and cost of: all ballots; additional temporary workers; and other equipment or facilities needed and used in the testing of the vendor's, person's, or other private entity's respective equipment and software. After an errorless test,
materials used in the public test, including the program, if
appropriate, shall be sealed and remain sealed until the test is
run again on election day. If any error is detected, the cause
of the error shall be determined and corrected, and an errorless
public test shall be made before the automatic tabulating
equipment is approved. Each election authority shall file a
sealed copy of each tested program to be used within its
jurisdiction at an election with the State Board of Elections
before the election. The Board shall secure the program or
programs of each election jurisdiction so filed in its office
until the next election of the same type (general primary, general election, consolidated primary, or consolidated election) for which the program or programs were filed. At the expiration of that time, if no
election contest or appeal is pending in an election
jurisdiction, the Board shall destroy the sealed program or
programs. Except
where in-precinct counting equipment is used, the test shall be
repeated immediately before the start of the official counting
of the ballots, in the same manner as set forth above. After
the completion of the count, the test shall be re-run using the
same program. Immediately after the re-run, all material used
in testing the program and the programs shall be sealed and
retained under the custody of the election authority for a
period of 60 days. At the expiration of that time the election
authority shall destroy the voted ballots, together with all
unused ballots returned from the precincts. Provided, if any
contest of election is pending at the time in which the ballots
may be required as evidence and the election authority has
notice of the contest, the same shall not be destroyed until
after the contest is finally determined. If the use of back-up
equipment becomes necessary, the same testing required for the
original equipment shall be conducted.
(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03; 94-1000, eff. 7-3-06.)
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