11. —(1) At the time fixed for the close of the poll the presiding officer shall take steps to ensure that no further electors are admitted to the polling station, but any elector on the premises at that time shall, subject to the provisions of the relevant Act or Regulations and this Part, be entitled to vote.

(2) As soon as practicable after the close of the poll, the presiding officer, after ensuring that the lock referred to in section 8 on each voting machine in the polling station has not been interfered with, shall cause a statement showing a list of the candidates on the ballot paper at the election or two questions on the ballot paper in the case of a referendum and the total number of votes recorded on the machine at the polling station to be produced by the machine. The statement shall be signed by the presiding officer and witnessed by another person in the polling station. The presiding officer shall then open the lock and remove the cartridge or disc from each such voting machine so that no further votes can be entered therein.

(3) The presiding officer shall immediately send the said cartridge or disc together with the statements produced at the opening and close of the poll referred to in section 9(1) and subsection (2) to the returning officer or to the local returning officer together with a polling station reconciliation account, in such form as may be directed by the Minister, made out by him or her and shall seal up in separate packets—

(a) the marked copies of the register of electors used,

(b) a statement prepared in accordance with section 104(2) of the Act of 1992 as applied to the relevant election or referendum by the Schedules to this Act, Rule 65 of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1997 or Article 66 of the Regulations of 1995,

(c) any authorisations given by the returning officer or local returning officer authorising persons to vote at the polling station and any undertakings by a personation agent to prove that a person has committed personation, and

(d) unused stationery and other documents and materials relating to the election or referendum,

and shall deliver all such packets to the relevant returning officer or local returning officer.

(4) The returning officer or the local returning officer shall make adequate arrangements for the safe custody of the packages delivered in pursuance of this section and of all documents connected with the poll.

(5) If, for whatever reason, the voting machine concerned fails to produce the printed statement referred to in subsection (2), the information that would have been recorded in that statement, being information displayed on the voting machine's display screen, together with any other information specified by the form to be entered on it, shall be entered on a form directed by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection. The form shall be signed by the presiding officer and witnessed by an agent or other person in the polling station.