(1) For a period of thirty (30) days following any election, the voting equipment shall remain locked against voting, the ballot boxes containing all paper ballots shall remain locked, and the voting equipment and ballot boxes shall be under video surveillance. The system used to conduct the video surveillance shall have enough storage capacity to retain sixty (60) consecutive days of continuous recording data. The voting equipment and the ballot boxes may be opened and all the data and figures therein examined:
(a) Upon the order of any court of competent jurisdiction, or judge thereof;

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 117.295

  • elections: means any primary, regular election, or special election. See Kentucky Statutes 117.001
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Regular election: means the election in even-numbered years at which members of Congress are elected and the election in odd-numbered years at which state officers are elected. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Risk-limiting audit: means an audit protocol that makes use of statistical principles and methods and is designed to limit to acceptable levels the risk of certifying a preliminary election outcome that constitutes an incorrect outcome. See Kentucky Statutes 117.001
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Voting equipment: means any physical component of a voting system and includes voting machines where voting machines are in operation. See Kentucky Statutes 117.001

(b) By direction of any legislative committee or board authorized and empowered to investigate and report upon contested elections;
(c) By a county board of elections under the direction of the State Board of
Elections pursuant to a risk-limiting audit; or
(d) As required to conduct a recount under KRS § 120.157.
All the data and figures shall be examined by the court, judge, county board of elections, State Board of Elections, or committee in the presence of the officer having the custody of the voting equipment, ballots, and ballot boxes. In the event of a contest of election, the court in which the contest is pending or the committee before which the contest is being heard may, upon motion of any party to the contest, issue an order requiring that the voting equipment, ballots, and ballot boxes shall remain continuously locked for further time as may be reasonable or necessary, with due regard for the preparation of the voting equipment for a succeeding primary, regular election, or special election, but in no event shall the order compel that the voting equipment remain locked to a time within thirty (30) days next preceding any approaching primary, regular election, or special election.
(2) During the period when the voting equipment and the ballot boxes are required to be kept locked, the keys thereto shall remain in the possession of the county board of elections. After that period, it shall be the duty of the county board of elections to return the keys to the custody of the county clerk.
Effective: July 14, 2022
History: Amended 2022 Ky. Acts ch. 219, sec. 4, effective July 14, 2022. — Amended
2021 Ky. Acts ch. 197, sec. 37, effective June 29, 2021. — Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 176, sec. 9, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 129, sec. 5, effective July 15, 2008. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 288, sec. 37, effective July
14, 1992. — Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 130, sec. 43, effective June 21, 1974.
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/15/2008). 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 129 eliminated the runoff primary in elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In Section 5 of that Act (this statute), a reference to “runoff primary” that was not deleted by the drafter has been deleted in codification as a manifest clerical or typographical error by the Reviser of Statutes.