AB 646

Currently, detachable recording units and compartments for use with

electronic voting machines may be cleared or erased no earlier than 14 days after any

primary and 21 days after any other election. Before clearing or erasing the units

or compartments, a municipal clerk or board of election commissioners must transfer

the data contained in the units or compartments to a disk or other recording medium

which may be erased or destroyed no earlier than 22 months after the election to

which the data relates.

This bill permits recording units and compartments for use with tabulating

equipment for an electronic voting system at any election at which no federal office

appears on the ballot to be cleared or erased no earlier than 14 days after the primary

and 21 days after the election but not while a recount or appeal of a recount

determination or decision is pending nor during the time period following a recount

or appeal of a recount determination or decision when an appeal or petition for review

may be filed except by order of a court in which an appeal is pending. The bill also

applies the same limitation concerning pending recounts, appeals, and appeal

periods to other materials relating to a specific election, subject to a minimum

22-month retention requirement for a federal election.