(a) Immediately after the polls are closed, the official checker or checkers, appointed under the provisions of § 9-234, shall make and deliver to the moderator a certificate stating the whole number of names on the registry list or enrollment list including, if applicable, unaffiliated electors authorized under § 9-431 to vote in the primary, and the number checked as having voted in that election or primary. For the purpose of computing the whole number of names on the registry list, the lists of persons who have applied for presidential or overseas ballots prepared in accordance with § 9-158h shall be included. If a paper registry list is used, the registrars or assistant registrars, as the case may be, shall write and sign with ink, on the list or lists so used and checked, a certificate of the whole number of names registered on the list eligible to vote in the election or primary and the number checked as having voted in that election or primary, and deposit it in the office of the municipal clerk not later than forty-eight hours after the close of the polls. If an electronic version of the registry list is used, the electronic device upon which such list is stored shall be returned to the registrars of voters who shall cause the electronic registry list to be printed. Such printed list shall be signed by each registrar, who shall deposit such list in the office of the municipal clerk not later than forty-eight hours after the close of the polls. The municipal clerk shall carefully preserve the paper registry list or printed electronic registry list, as applicable, on file, with the marks on it without alteration, for public inspection, and shall immediately enter a certified copy of such certificate on the town records. Subject to the provisions of § 7-109, the municipal clerk may destroy any voting checklist four years after the date upon which it was used. The moderator shall place the certificate which the moderator received from the official checker or checkers in the office of the municipal clerk not later than forty-eight hours after the close of the polls.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, for the state election in 2020, and any election or primary held on or after June 23, 2021, but prior to November 3, 2021, any certificate or list required under said subsection to be deposited or placed in the office of the municipal clerk shall be so deposited or placed not later than ninety-six hours after the close of the polls at such election or primary.