§3-2-29 Custody of original registration records and voter registration data files.
§3-2-29. Custody of original registration records and voter registration data files.
(a) All original registration records and voter registration data files shall remain in the custody of the county commission, by its clerk, and shall not be removed except for use in an election or by the order of a court of record or in compliance with a subpoena duces tecum issued by the secretary of state pursuant to the provisions of section six, article one-a of this chapter.
(b) All original voter registration records shall be retained for a minimum of five years following the last recorded activity relating to the record, except that any application which duplicates and does not alter an existing registration shall be retained for a minimum of two years following its receipt. The secretary of state shall promulgate rules pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for the specific retention times and procedures required for original voter registration records.
(c) Prior to the destruction of original voter registration applications or registration cards of voters whose registration has been canceled at least five years previously, the clerk of the county commission shall notify the secretary of state of the intention to destroy those records. If the secretary of state determines, within ninety days of the receipt of the notice, that those records are of sufficient historical value that microfilm or other permanent data storage is desirable, the secretary of state may require that the records be delivered to a specified location for processing at state expense.
(d) When a county maintains in digitized data format the active, inactive, pending, rejected and canceled registration files, a data format copy of each of the files shall be maintained as a permanent record, as follows:
(1) Individual canceled registration records shall be maintained in a regularly accessible data file for a period of at least three years following cancellation. Upon the expiration of three years, those individual records may be removed from the regularly accessible canceled registration file and stored on tape or disk. The records removed may be added to a single file containing previously canceled registration records for permanent storage, and the tape or disk shall be clearly labeled.
(2) Rejected registration record files shall be maintained in the same manner as provided for canceled registration files.
(3) At least once each calendar year, during the month of February, a data format copy of the active registration file, inactive registration file and pending application file shall be made containing all records maintained in those files as of the date of the copy. The copy shall be stored on tape or disk and shall be clearly labeled with the types of files and the date the copy was made.