On June 15, the California State Appeals Court reaffirmed a lower court ruling, that when electronic vote-counting machines without a paper trail are used, and the losing side in a close election contests the results, election officials must disclose certain information about the vote-counting machines. Specifically, elections officials must provide: (1) all audit logs; (2) all redundantly stored vote data; (3) the complete chain of custody information for all system components and for human access to stored data; (4) all logic and accuracy test reports. The decision is here.

The case had originated in Berkeley in 2004, when a medical marijuana initiative lost by only 191 votes. The losing side wanted a recount, but there was no paper trail. The outcome has little relevance to future California elections, since all vote-counting equipment must now have a paper trail. The case may have more influence in the future for certain other states that don’t have paper trail requirements.