Central tabulator

A central tabulator may be a high-speed optical scanner that is used to count large numbers of optical scan paper ballots. The term “central tabulator” is also used sometimes to describe a jurisdiction's election management system, which aggregates vote tallies from all the polling places following the election and which is often also used to program all the jurisdiction's polling-place machines before the election.

Source: COUNTING VOTES 2012: A State by State Look at Voting Technology Preparedness, Verified Voting Foundation, Rutgers School of Law - Newark Constitutional Litigation Clinic & Common Cause Education Fund, https://countingvotes.org/sites/default/files/CountingVotes2012_Final_August2012.pdf