§3-4-27 Incorrect recordation or tabulation of votes; test of machine accuracy; procedures and requirements. - West Virginia Statutes

§3-4-27. Incorrect recordation or tabulation of votes; test of machine accuracy; procedures and requirements.
(1) When during a canvass or a recount of votes in an election it appears to the board of canvassers or if it so alleged in a petition for a recount, that a voting machine used in any precinct has by reason of mechanical failure or improper or fraudulent preparation or tampering incorrectly recorded and tabulated the actual votes cast on such machine, the board of canvassers shall proceed to determine the error, if any, in the vote registered on such voting machine. If an error is found, the board of canvassers shall correct the election returns from such precinct so as to accurately reflect the votes cast in such precinct at such election if it is possible to accurately correct such error. If the board of canvassers is unable to accurately correct such errors made by said voting machine and therefore cannot correct the returns from such precinct to accurately reflect the actual votes cast at such election, the total votes registered on such voting machine, despite the fact that such vote may be erroneous, shall be accepted in the canvass and in the recount as the votes cast in such precinct.

(2) If it is necessary for the board of canvassers to test any voting machine for its mechanical accuracy in recording and tabulating the votes cast at such election, such test shall be conducted by the clerk of the county court in the presence of the board of canvassers and of any candidate or his party representative. The registering counter shall be reset at zero (000) before it is tested and then the machine shall be operated at least one hundred times. After the completion of such test the clerk will then and there prepare and file a statement in writing giving in detail the result of the examination and test.