A Florida election protection lawsuit filed July 1 could help decide the fall 2020 vote count.
Signed by three Florida Democratic legislators, the suit demands that electronic ballot images be preserved in accordance with federal law. The images are created when computerized scanning devices process paper ballots. Those images can then be counted to give a complete ballot tally within six seconds. The paper ballots are preserved for possible recounts.
By federal law the ballot images are considered part of the public record and, like the actual paper ballots, must be retained at least 22 months. The machines are used in at least 80 percent of the nation's voting stations.
But many Secretary of States and/or State election boards around the country simply erase the images, allowing local officials considerable leeway in determining the vote count. In Florida, which has been notoriously fluid in the accuracy of its outcomes, only 27 out of the 67 counties that we know of are preserving the ballot images.