FOIA Request to Swain County Election Department Regarding Pre-Election Voting Machine Test Reports on October 30, 2024.
In our ongoing commitment to provide comprehensive and accurate news coverage on local governmental affairs, we at Nantahala News have sent a request for public records under the North Carolina Public Records Law, G.S. §132-1., to the Swain County Election Department.
The requested records pertain specifically to pre-election testing of voting machines. We have asked for these reports in PDF format with specific fields including the test date, machine manufacture, machine model number, and machine status indicating whether each machine passed or failed its test.
As journalists committed to gathering and reporting news to the public, access to such public records is essential for us to fulfill our professional responsibilities. These include holding public institutions accountable and providing transparency to the public. Given our role in disseminating information, we believe we are eligible for a fee waiver as media professionals.
We await the response from the Swain County Election Department and will continue to keep our readers informed about developments in this matter.