10 ILCS 5/ Election Code.

(10 ILCS 5/24B-15.01)

Sec. 24B-15.01. Transporting Ballots to Central Counting Station; Container. Upon completion of the tabulation and retabulation of votes pursuant to Sections 24B-11 through 24B-15, the ballots from each precinct shall be replaced in the container in which they were transported to the central counting station. If the container is not a type which may be securely locked, then each container, before being transferred from the counting station to storage, shall be sealed with filament tape wrapped around the container lengthwise and crosswise, at least twice each way, and in a manner that the ballots cannot be removed from the container without breaking the tape.

(Source: P.A. 89-394, eff. 1-1-97.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-15.1)

Sec. 24B-15.1. Discovery recounts and election contests. Except as provided, discovery recounts and election contests shall be conducted as otherwise provided for in this Code. The automatic Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology tabulating equipment shall be tested prior to the discovery recount or election contest as provided in Section 24B-9, and then the official ballots shall be recounted on the automatic tabulating equipment. In addition, (a) the ballots shall be checked for the presence or absence of judges' initials and other distinguishing marks, and (b) the ballots marked "Rejected", "Defective", "Objected To", "Early Ballot", and "Vote by Mail Ballot" shall be examined to determine the propriety of the labels, and (c) the "Duplicate Vote by Mail Ballots", "Duplicate Overvoted Ballots", "Duplicate Early Ballot", and "Duplicate Damaged Ballots" shall be compared with their respective originals to determine the correctness of the duplicates.

Any person who has filed a petition for discovery recount may request that a redundant count be conducted in those precincts in which the discovery recount is being conducted. The additional costs of a redundant count shall be borne by the requesting party.

The log of the computer operator and all materials retained by the election authority in relation to vote tabulation and canvass shall be made available for any discovery recount or election contest.

(Source: P.A. 98-1171, eff. 6-1-15.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-16)

Sec. 24B-16. Approval of Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology Voting Systems; Requisites. The State Board of Elections shall approve all Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology voting systems provided by this Article.

No Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology voting system shall be approved unless it fulfills the following requirements:

(a) It enables a voter to vote in absolute secrecy;

(b) (Blank);

(c) It enables a voter to vote a ticket selected in part from the nominees of one party, and in part from the nominees of any or all parties, and in part from independent candidates, and in part of candidates whose names are written in by the voter;

(d) It enables a voter to vote a written or printed ticket of his or her own selection for any person for any office for whom he or she may desire to vote;

(e) It will reject all votes for an office or upon a proposition when the voter has cast more votes for the office or upon the proposition than he or she is entitled to cast;

(e-5) It will identify when a voter has not voted for all statewide constitutional offices; and

(f) It will accommodate all propositions to be submitted to the voters in the form provided by law or, where no form is provided, then in brief form, not to exceed 75 words.

The State Board of Elections shall not approve any voting equipment or system that includes an external Infrared Data Association (IrDA) communications port.

The State Board of Elections is authorized to withdraw its approval of a Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology voting system if the system fails to fulfill the above requirements.

The vendor, person, or other private entity shall be solely responsible for the production and cost of: all application fees; 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.

Any voting system vendor, person, or other private entity seeking the State Board of Elections' approval of a voting system shall, as part of the approval application, submit to the State Board a non-refundable fee. The State Board of Elections by rule shall establish an appropriate fee structure, taking into account the type of voting system approval that is requested (such as approval of a new system, a modification of an existing system, the size of the modification, etc.). No voting system or modification of a voting system shall be approved unless the fee is paid.

No vendor, person, or other entity may sell, lease, or loan, or have a written contract, including a contract contingent upon State Board approval of the voting system or voting system component, to sell, lease, or loan, a voting system or Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology voting system component to any election jurisdiction unless the voting system or voting system component is first approved by the State Board of Elections pursuant to this Section.

(Source: P.A. 94-1000, eff. 7-3-06; 95-699, eff. 11-9-07.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-17)

Sec. 24B-17. Rules; Number of Voting Booths. The State Board of Elections may make reasonable rules for the administration of this Article and may prescribe the number of voting booths required for the various types of voting systems.

(Source: P.A. 89-394, eff. 1-1-97.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-18)

Sec. 24B-18. Specimen Ballots; Publication. When an electronic Precinct Tabulation Optical Scan Technology voting system is used, the election authority shall cause to be published, at least 5 days before the day of each general and general primary election, in 2 or more newspapers published in and having a general circulation in the county, a true and legible copy of the specimen ballot. A true legible copy may be in the form of an actual size ballot and shall be published as required by this Section if distributed in 2 or more newspapers published and having a general circulation in the county as an insert. For each election prescribed in Article 2A of this Code, specimen ballots shall be made available for public distribution and shall be supplied to the judges of election for posting in the polling place on the day of election. Notice for the nonpartisan and consolidated elections shall be given as provided in Article 12.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-19)

Sec. 24B-19. Additional Method of Voting. The foregoing Sections of this Article shall be deemed to provide a method of voting in addition to the methods otherwise provided in this Code.

(Source: P.A. 89-394, eff. 1-1-97.)

(10 ILCS 5/24B-20)

Sec. 24B-20. Voting Defect Identification Capabilities. An election authority is required to use the Voting Defect Identification capabilities of the automatic tabulating equipment when used in-precinct, including both the capability of identifying an under-vote and the capability of identifying an over-vote.

(Source: P.A. 95-699, eff. 11-9-07.)

(10 ILCS 5/Art. 24C heading) ARTICLE 24C. DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS

(10 ILCS 5/24C-1)

Sec. 24C-1. Purpose. The purpose of this Article is to authorize the use of Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems approved by the State Board of Elections. In a Direct Recording Electronic Voting System, voters cast votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical devices that can be activated by the voters to mark their choices for the candidates of their preference and for or against public questions. Such voting devices shall be capable of instantaneously recording such votes, storing such votes, producing a permanent paper record and tabulating such votes at the precinct or at one or more counting stations. This Article authorizes the use of Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems for in-precinct counting applications and for early voting in the office of the election authority and in the offices of local officials authorized by the election authority to conduct such early voting. All other early ballots must be counted at the office of the election authority.

(Source: P.A. 98-1171, eff. 6-1-15.)

(10 ILCS 5/24C-2)

Sec. 24C-2. Definitions. As used in this Article:

"Audit trail" or "audit capacity" means a continuous trail of evidence linking individual transactions related to the casting of a vote, the vote count and the summary record of vote totals, but which shall not allow for the identification of the voter. It shall permit verification of the accuracy of the count and detection and correction of problems and shall provide a record of each step taken in: defining and producing ballots and generating related software for specific elections; installing ballots and software; testing system readiness; casting and tabulating ballots; and producing images of votes cast and reports of vote totals. The record shall incorporate system status and error messages generated during election processing, including a log of machine activities and routine and unusual intervention by authorized and unauthorized individuals. Also part of an audit trail is the documentation of such items as ballots delivered and collected, administrative procedures for system security, pre-election testing of voting systems, and maintenance performed on voting equipment. All test plans, test results, documentation, and other records used to plan, execute, and record the results of the testing and verification, including all material prepared or used by independent testing authorities or other third parties, shall be made part of the public record and shall be freely available via the Internet and paper copy to anyone. "Audit trail" or "audit capacity" also means that the voting system is capable of producing and shall produce immediately after a ballot is cast a permanent paper record of each ballot cast that shall be available as an official record for any recount, redundant count, or verification or retabulation of the vote count conducted with respect to any election in which the voting system is used.

"Ballot" means an electronic audio or video display or any other medium, including paper, used to record a voter's choices for the candidates of their preference and for or against public questions.

"Ballot configuration" means the particular combination of political subdivision or district ballots including, for each political subdivision or district, the particular combination of offices, candidate names and public questions as it appears for each group of voters who may cast the same ballot.

"Ballot image" means a corresponding representation in electronic or paper form of the mark or vote position of a ballot.

"Ballot label" or "ballot screen" means the display of material containing the names of offices and candidates and public questions to be voted on.

"Central counting" means the counting of ballots in one or more locations selected by the election authority for the processing or counting, or both, of ballots. A location for central counting shall be within the territorial jurisdiction of the election authority unless there is no suitable tabulating equipment available within his territorial jurisdiction. However, in any event a counting location shall be within this State.

"Computer", "automatic tabulating equipment" or "equipment" includes apparatus necessary to automatically examine and count votes as designated on ballots, and data processing machines which can be used for counting ballots and tabulating results.

"Computer operator" means any person or persons designated by the election authority to operate the automatic tabulating equipment during any portion of the vote tallying process in an election, but shall not include judges of election operating vote tabulating equipment in the precinct.

"Computer program" or "program" means the set of operating instructions for the automatic tabulating equipment that examines, records, displays, counts, tabulates, canvasses, or prints votes recorded by a voter on a ballot or that displays any and all information, graphics, or other visual or audio information or images used in presenting voting information, instructions, or voter choices.

"Direct recording electronic voting system", "voting system" or "system" means the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical or electronic equipment, programs and practices used to define ballots, cast and count votes, report or display election results, maintain or produce any audit trail information, identify all system components, test the system during development, maintenance and operation, maintain records of system errors and defects, determine specific system changes to be made to a system after initial qualification, and make available any materials to the voter such as notices, instructions, forms or paper ballots.

"Edit listing" means a computer generated listing of the names of each candidate and public question as they appear in the program for each precinct.

"In-precinct counting" means the recording and counting of ballots on automatic tabulating equipment provided by the election authority in the same precinct polling place in which those ballots have been cast.

"Marking device" means any device approved by the State Board of Elections for marking a ballot so as to enable the ballot to be recorded, counted and tabulated by automatic tabulating equipment.

"Permanent paper record" means a paper record upon which shall be printed in human readable form the votes cast for each candidate and for or against each public question on each ballot recorded in the voting system. Each permanent paper record shall be printed by the voting device upon activation of the marking device by the voter and shall contain a unique, randomly assigned identifying number that shall correspond to the number randomly assigned by the voting system to each ballot as it is electronically recorded.

"Redundant count" means a verification of the original computer count of ballots by another count using compatible equipment or other means as part of a discovery recount, including a count of the permanent paper record of each ballot cast by using compatible equipment, different equipment approved by the State Board of Elections for that purpose, or by hand.

"Separate ballot" means a separate page or display screen of the ballot that is clearly defined and distinguishable from other portions of the ballot.

"Voting device" or "voting machine" means an apparatus that contains the ballot label or ballot screen and allows the voter to record his or her vote.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03; 94-645, eff. 8-22-05.)

(10 ILCS 5/24C-3)

Sec. 24C-3. Adoption, experimentation or abandonment of Direct Recording Electronic Voting System; Boundaries of precincts; Notice. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, any county board, board of county commissioners and any board of election commissioners, with respect to territory within its jurisdiction, may adopt, experiment with, or abandon a Direct Recording Electronic Voting System approved for use by the State Board of Elections and may use such System in all or some of the precincts within its jurisdiction, or in combination with paper ballots or other voting systems. Any county board, board of county commissioners or board of election commissioners may contract for the tabulation of votes at a location outside its territorial jurisdiction when there is no suitable tabulating equipment available within its territorial jurisdiction. In no case may a county board, board of county commissioners or board of election commissioners contract or arrange for the purchase, lease or loan of a Direct Recording Electronic Voting System or System component without the approval of the State Board of Elections as provided by Section 24C-16.

Before any Direct Recording Electronic Voting System is introduced, adopted or used in any precinct or territory at least 2 months public notice must be given before the date of the first election where the System is to be used. The election authority shall publish the notice at least once in one or more newspapers published within the county or other jurisdiction, where the election is held. If there is no such newspaper, the notice shall be published in a newspaper published in the county and having a general circulation within such jurisdiction. The notice shall be substantially as follows:

"Notice is hereby given that on ... (give date) ..., at ... (give place where election is held) ... in the county of ..., an election will be held for ... (give name of offices to be filled) ... at which a Direct Recording Electronic Voting System will be used."

Dated at ... this ... day of ... 20....?

This notice referred to shall be given only at the first election at which the Direct Recording Electronic Voting System is used.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03.)

(10 ILCS 5/24C-3.1)

Sec. 24C-3.1. Retention or consolidation or alteration of existing precincts; Change of location. When a Direct Recording Electronic Voting System is used, the county board or board of election commissioners may retain existing precincts or may consolidate, combine, alter, decrease or enlarge the boundaries of the precincts to change the number of registered voters of the precincts using the System, establishing the number of registered voters within each precinct at a number not to exceed 800 as the appropriate county board or board of election commissioners determines will afford adequate voting facilities and efficient and economical elections.

Except in the event of a fire, flood or total loss of heat in a place fixed or established pursuant to law by any county board or board of election commissioners as a polling place for an election, no election authority shall change the location of a polling place established for any precinct after notice of the place of holding the election for that precinct has been given as required under Article 12 unless the election authority notifies all registered voters in the precinct of the change in location by first class mail in sufficient time for the notice to be received by the registered voters in the precinct at least one day prior to the date of the election.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03.)