The county auditor shall designate a location to serve as the counting center. If that location is other than the county auditor's office or county election office, the auditor shall include the location of the counting center in the published notice of elections. The county auditor shall be responsible for all counting center functions. Within the counting center, no person except those authorized by the county auditor may touch any ballot or ballot container, or operate a vote tallying system. The auditor shall identify either by roster or identification tag, or both, those persons so authorized. The vote tallying process shall be open to the public to the extent that public observation does not interfere with the proceedings or jeopardize the security of the ballots. The auditor shall establish local administrative rules pertaining to public observers including the media and how they may be accommodated and the necessary limitations thereto.