(1) All proceedings at the counting center shall be under the direction of the clerk and shall be conducted under the observation of watchers, so far as practicable, in accordance with the provisions of part 6 of this article; but no persons except those authorized for the purpose shall touch any ballot or ballot card or return. All persons who are engaged in the processing and counting of the ballots shall be deputized in writing and take an oath that they will faithfully perform their assigned duties. If any ballot is damaged or defective so that it cannot properly be counted by the electronic vote counting equipment, a true duplicate copy shall be made of the damaged ballot in the presence of two witnesses. The duplicate ballot shall be substituted for the damaged ballot. All duplicate ballots shall be clearly labeled as such and shall bear a serial number which shall be recorded on the damaged ballot. (2) The return printed by the electronic vote tabulating equipment, to which have been added write-in votes, shall constitute, when certified by the clerk, the official return of each precinct. The clerk may from time to time release unofficial returns. Upon completion of the count, the official returns shall be open to the public. (3) Absentee ballots shall be counted at the counting center in the same manner as precinct ballots. Write-in ballots may be counted in their precincts by the precinct judges of election or at the counting center, but, before any write-in vote is counted, it shall be compared with votes cast for the same office on the ballot card to ascertain whether the write-in vote is valid. If the voter has cast more votes for the office than he is lawfully entitled to vote, the word "void" shall be written across the write-in vote, and it shall not be counted. Votes cast for a nominated candidate whose name appears on the ballot shall not be voided because of an invalid write-in vote for the same office. (4) If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the ballots with electronic vote tabulating equipment, the clerk may direct that they be counted manually, following as far as practicable the provisions governing the counting of paper ballots. (5) The receiving, opening, and preservation of the transfer boxes and their contents shall be the responsibility of the clerk, who shall provide adequate personnel and facilities to assure accurate and complete election results. Any indication of tampering with the ballots or ballot cards or other fraudulent action shall be immediately reported to the municipal attorney who shall immediately investigate such action and report in writing within ten days his findings to the clerk and shall prosecute to the full extent of the law any person responsible for such fraudulent action. The conduct of municipal elections when electronic voting systems are used shall follow, as nearly as practicable, the conduct of general and primary elections when such systems are used.
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