A Republican, a Democrat, an Independent and a minister yesterday asked a Montgomery circuit court judge to order protection of election materials from next week’s special Senate election. The voters say these materials are essential for verifying the accuracy of the election results and that the State plans to destroy them.
At issue are the “ballot images” created by the digital scanners paper ballots are fed into. Eighty five percent of vote-counting machines in the state count votes by reading the ballot images.
“The Secretary of State’s office is legally required to set procedures to assure all election materials for 22 months after a federal election,” explains election transparency expert John Roberts Brakey. “Even the envelopes from absentee ballots have to be kept. Destroying the ballot images is illegal. We’re only asking the Secretary of State to follow the law.”
You can find the motion for a temporary restraining order here.