Allows for a PCP or County Clerk candidates to help count ballots.
A candidate for any office has a conflict of interest in opening ballots or be alone in a room with the open ballots. It makes the clerk liable and adds stress to the clerk. If the clerk is the candidate, there needs to be a deputy appointed to oversee the actual counting.
There are other jobs that the PCP can do to help the clerk, ie phone calls, collect unopened ballots, sort them, or check signatures, but not participate in counting.