9. —(1) Immediately before the commencement of the poll at an election or referendum, the presiding officer at each polling station, after ensuring that the lock on the machine referred to in section 8 has not been interfered with, shall operate the voting machine in his or her charge to demonstrate to such persons as are present in the polling station that no votes are cast or recorded on the machine. The presiding officer shall cause a printed statement to be produced by the machine showing the names of candidates on the ballot paper at the election or the two questions on the ballot paper in the case of a referendum and that no votes are cast or recorded on the machine. The statement shall be signed by the presiding officer and witnessed by an agent or other person in the polling station. The presiding officer shall then place the voting machine in his or her view during the poll.

(2) If, for whatever reason, the voting machine concerned fails to produce the printed statement referred to in subsection (1), 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.