(a) Except as may be provided further by local election laws or by the electronic vote counting statutes, the county governing bodies shall designate the places of holding elections in the precincts established hereunder, and, whenever the county has alphabetically divided the list of registered qualified voters of a precinct into groups, it shall designate not only the voting place but also the number of electronic voting machines at each voting place in the precinct, being sure that it designates an electronic voting machine for each group of qualified voters. The county governing body is specifically authorized to provide for installing as many electronic voting machines as are needed in each precinct, and the electronic voting machines may be installed at one designated voting place or there may be more than one voting place designated and such number of electronic voting machines installed at each place as needed to provide for the voters authorized to vote at each place. The county governing body shall file with the judge of probate of the county and with the board of registrars along with a copy of its order fixing the boundaries of a precinct, the names of places designated for voting, indicating in those precincts in which the voters have been alphabetically divided into groups the voting places and electronic voting machines at which each alphabetical group shall vote and shall also post the list of voting places at the county courthouse.

(b) The judge of probate, within five days after the county governing body of any county files with him or her the boundaries of the election precincts and the names of the voting places therein, shall give notice of the same by publishing the same in some newspaper of general circulation published in the county and shall have the same posted by the sheriff at the courthouse and at two public places in the election district of the precinct. The notice shall describe the election precincts by their numbers and shall specify the place therein where elections are to be held.

(c) Where election precincts have been subdivided into voting districts hereunder, no voter in any election held thereafter shall vote at any place other than the voting district in which the voter at the time is registered as a qualified elector. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any county, by local law, may establish voting centers by combining voters from two or more precincts in order to create a voting center in order to facilitate, or reduce costs, for elections.

(d) Except as may be provided further by local election laws or by the electronic vote counting statutes, whenever places of voting are once designated and established as required by this chapter, the voting places for precincts shall not be changed within three months before an election is to be held. When the boundaries of election precincts are changed, the county governing body shall forthwith designate and establish at least one voting place for every 2,400 voters in each election precinct so created. Places of voting shall be the same for all elections, whether primary, general, or special, or federal, state, district, or county.

(e) The courthouse is the place of holding elections in the precinct in which it is situated unless another place for that purpose is designated by the county governing body. Elections must be held at such places in the other precincts as may be designated hereafter by the county governing body.