A. At the time of qualifying, the parish custodian shall notify each candidate to contact the registrar of voters for the time and place at which the voting machines will be prepared for early voting. The registrar of voters shall post at his office adequate notice of the date, time, and place at which the voting machines will be prepared for early voting and shall post the same information on his office’s website, if possible. The candidate or his representative may be present to observe the preparation of the machines by the registrar of voters with the assistance of the secretary of state’s technicians and to observe the testing and sealing of the machines by the registrar of voters in the presence of the parish board of election supervisors. Each candidate or his representative shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to view the test vote tape for each machine to see that they are in the proper condition for use in the election, which opportunity shall not be less than thirty minutes beginning at the time designated by the registrar of voters to begin preparation of the machines for sealing. However, no candidate, representative, or citizen shall interfere with the registrar of voters, secretary of state’s technicians, parish board of election supervisors, or any employee or technician or assume any of their duties.

            B. Each candidate or representative shall identify to the registrar of voters the candidate whom he is representing. In addition, any citizen of this state may be present to observe the preparation, testing, and sealing of the machines by the registrar of voters and the secretary of state’s technicians and shall be afforded an opportunity to inspect the test vote tape for each machine to see that they are in proper condition for use for early voting.

            C. After the machines have been examined by each candidate, representative, or citizen who is present, the registrar of voters and secretary of state’s technicians shall generate a zero tally to ensure that the voting machine’s public counter is set at zero and that no votes have been cast for any candidate or for or against any proposition. The registrar of voters and the parish board of election supervisors shall then seal the voting machine.

            D. The registrar of voters and the secretary of state’s technicians shall record the public and protective counter numbers for each early voting machine on a form prepared by the secretary of state for use in verifying the early voting results on election day.

            Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 130, §1, eff. April 23, 2002; Acts 2005, No. 220, §4, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2005, No. 431, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2012, No. 138, §1, eff. May 14, 2012; Acts 2013, No. 395, §1, eff. June 18, 2013; Acts 2020, No. 28, §1, eff. June 4, 2020; Acts 2021, No. 381, §1, eff. June 17, 2021.