Election Poll Books Thrown Out in Indiana

The head of Indiana’s Delaware County Democratic Party, Margie Landers, said she regrets that party workers dumped dozens of election poll books containing voters’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and copies of their signatures into the trash after Election Day.

While some of the copied signatures are illegible, others are not and could be reproduced leading to concerns that the voters’ information could be used by identity thieves. The Delaware County Clerk said the poll books were no more than basic public records and that county government has nothing to do with how a political party disposes of its records. The clerk did say that poll books used by the county’s election board were locked in the county vault and would be disposed of properly.

Delaware County Republicans shred their poll books in the same manner the local public records commission disposes of records.

Jim Corridan, state archivist and director of the Indiana Commission on Public Records, said state law requires government to dispose of records in a manner that prevents them from being recreated. Although that law does not apply to nonprofit groups, such groups are encouraged to adopt policies following state law and use shredding in the disposing of records.

SS