14422.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 14215 or any other provision of law, and subject to subdivision (b), the county elections official for a county of greater than 5,000 square miles may direct a precinct board to seal ballot containers prior to the closing of the polls, in accordance with the procedures set forth in Sections 14420 and 14421, and may direct two members of the precinct board to remove from a polling place and the presence of any bystanders prior to the closing of the polls a sealed ballot container of voted untallied ballots and deliver without delay the sealed ballot container, unopened, to the county elections official or to a receiving station designated by the county elections official. Upon receipt of a sealed ballot container pursuant to this section, the county elections official, or his or her designee, shall sign an acknowledgment of receipt of the sealed ballot container.(b) Not less than 30 days prior to an election, the county elections official shall identify each precinct or polling place from which sealed ballot containers will be removed prior to the closing of the polls. The elections official may not direct that ballot containers be removed from more than 3 percent of the precincts in the jurisdiction prior to the closing of the polls. Sealed ballot containers may be removed from a polling place and the presence of any bystanders pursuant to subdivision (a) only once, and the removal shall occur between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
(c) Upon receipt of a container at a receiving center or central counting place pursuant to subdivision (a), the county elections official may process the voted untallied ballots, but shall not tally the ballots or release any results prior to the closing of the polls.
(d) (1) This section shall not be construed to relieve a precinct board of its responsibility to account for ballots pursuant to Section 14405.
(2) The members of the precinct board shall account for the ballots delivered to them by returning a sufficient number of unused ballots to make up, when added to the number of official ballots cast and the number of spoiled and canceled ballots returned, the number of ballots given to them. The officers receiving returned ballots shall compel this accounting.
(3) The precinct board shall complete the roster as required in Section 14107, and shall also complete and sign the certificate of performance prescribed in Section 15280, if that section applies.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that date.