Judge orders county auditors to preserve election records

But 24 hours after issuing a second order, the judge vacated it

A Lincoln County judge has ordered county auditors in the state’s largest counties to preserve election records related to the 2020 general election amid a looming deadline that would have allowed some records to be destroyed.

But the same judge also reversed a separate order requiring all county auditors in the state to preserve their records from both the general election and this year’s primary election.

Judge John Pekas vacated his second order Friday 24 hours after he required all counties in the state to retain their election records. Pekas could not immediately be reached Friday evening.

The first order that remained in place on Friday related to the 2020 election records and a Sept. 3 deadline in federal law that would have enabled local election officials to destroy machine logs from automatic tabulation machines. The federal law requires local election officials to keep certain records for 22 months following an election. The last general election was Nov. 3, 2020.