TUCSON (CN) — Pima County, Arizona, agreed to temporarily preserve digital images of ballots from Tuesday's primary election, but said it will fight a federal lawsuit seeking to keep such records from being destroyed.
The Aug. 23 lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order and injunction, but the county's willingness to save the records pending further litigation satisfied plaintiff Richard Hernandez, an early primary voter.
In a brief hearing Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Richard Gordon gave attorneys for both sides more time to file briefs. He scheduled another hearing for Oct. 14.
Pima County, whose seat is Tucson, planned to delete ballot images after scanning and counting votes. It said that saving the digital files via new ballot scanners, called DS850s, was too time-consuming the first time they were used, in the November 2015 election.
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