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No. 72028-7-1/13
RCWs 29A.60.125, 29A.60.110 and WAC 434-261-045 (which are
other laws preventing disclosure pursuant to RCW 42.56.070(1))
require ballots to remain in secure storage unless opened by a
court or canvassing for a specific authorized purpose.
White contends Skagit County's exemption log was unsatisfactory
because it did not explain why the identified provisions for secure ballot storage
applied to digital images and metadata. We disagree. The statute requires a
"brief explanation," not an explanatory brief. Skagit County's citation to two
statutes and a regulation enabled White, and ultimately the trial court, to assess
whether or not images of voted ballots are subject to the same provisions for
secure storage as the originals.
Island County took a different approach. Instead of an exemption log
identifying each ballot by serial number, Island County provided White with a
single explanatory letter:
The records you requested are digital files and associated
metadata and properties for ballots in the November 5, 2013
general election. The county received one ballot by fax for this
election. Only two voters voted by voting machine. The County
received 28 e-mailed ballots for this election as of November 6,
2013. And the number of ballots scanned so far for this election is
28,668.
For each of the scanned ballots a corresponding digital image file
exists for each side of each ballot; each ballot for this election is a
single page with two sides. There is metadata associated with
each digital image file and with the e-mail ballots.