From: Amanda M. Waske <awaske@ringgoldcounty.us>
To: Kathryn Heilesen
Subject: Response to CVR Request
Ms. Heilesen:
On September 2, 2022, you e-mailed my office a Freedom of Information Act request for election information. The Freedom of Information Act provides a right for citizens to receive certain information from federal offices and/or agencies. Ringgold County is a county entity and is therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
I will treat your request as a public records request under Iowa Code § 22.4.
The Iowa law does not require creation or preservation of the record of the electronic information you have defined it in your request. This electronic data is not a public record maintained by my office, and therefore is not subject to a public records request. My office generated a public statement of the totals of the votes cast in the 2020 election. I can provide that document to you and you can compare it to the voting totals reported by the Secretary of State for Ringgold County.
Further, Iowa Code §50.12 prohibits opening or otherwise viewing information on how individual ballots were cast, except in certain limited circumstances that do not apply to your request. This would include the disclosure of information or data that could be used to trace back and determine how individual ballots were cast. So even if the records you seek did exist, the County is statutorily prohibited from opening and disclosing them to you because this data would be considered confidential and not subject to a public records request.
For these reasons I cannot provide the electronic data you have requested. Let me know if you want a copy of the public statement I issued concerning the voting totals for the 2020 election.
Amanda Waske – Ringgold County Auditor
OpenRecords.fyi 