(e) Election officials must supervise storage
Section 20701 requires that covered election documentation be
retained either physically by election officials themselves, or under
their direct administrative supervision. This is because the document
retention requirements of this federal law place the retention and
safekeeping duties squarely on the shoulders of election officers.
An electoral jurisdiction, however, may validly determine that
election records subject to Section 20701 would most efficiently be
kept under the physical supervision of government officers other than
election officers (e.g., motor vehicle departments and social service
administrators).
If an electoral jurisdiction makes such a
determination, Section 20701 requires that administrative procedures
be in place giving election officers ultimate management authority
over the retention and security of those election records, including the
right to physically access and dispose of them. The terms and
conditions of storage also must conform to the retention requirements
of the statute.
15. Section 20701 versus National Voter Registration Act
The retention requirements of Section 20701 interface
significantly with somewhat similar retention requirements of the
NVRA, 52 U.S.C. § 20507(i). However, there are four major
differences between these two provisions:
• Section 20701 applies to all records generated by the
election process, while Section 20507(i) applies only to
registration records generated under the NVRA.
• Section 20701’s retention period is twenty-two months
while Section 20507(i)’s retention period is two years.
• Section 20507(i) requires that, with certain exceptions,
covered records also must be made available to the
public for inspection for two years.
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