Retention of Voting Documentation (42 U.S.C. 1974 through 1974e)
This statute applies in all jurisdictions and to all elections in which a federal candidate is on the ballot. It requires election officials to preserve for 22 months "all records and papers which came into their possession relating to an application, registration, payment of a poll tax, or other act requisite to voting."
(NOTE: The Department of Justice considers this law to cover all voter registration records, all poll lists and similar documents reflecting the identity of voters casting ballots at the polls, all applications for absentee ballots, all envelopes in which absentee ballots are returned for tabulation, all documents containing oaths of voters, all documents relating to challenges to voters or absentee ballots, all tally sheets and canvass reports, all records reflecting the appointment of persons entitled to act as poll officials or poll watchers, and all computer programs used to tabulate votes electronically. In addition, it is the Department of Justice's view that the phrase "other act requisite to voting" requires the retention of the ballots themselves, at least in those jurisdictions where a voter's electoral preference is manifested by marking a piece of paper or by punching holes in a computer card.) |
