# Chain of Custody A **chain of custody** is not a set of safeguards but a **documentary claim**: that the physical object in front of you is the same object that left the last place, unaltered. It is built from four artifacts repeated at every hand-off — a numbered **seal**, a **seal log** recording which number was applied and removed and by whom, a **transfer form** signed by both the person releasing and the person receiving, and an **access log** of everyone who entered the space where the material sat. The concept comes from criminal evidence law, where an unbroken chain is what makes an exhibit admissible, and it was imported into election administration for the same reason: a chain of custody does not prevent tampering, it makes tampering **visible**. A break does not prove interference — it destroys the ability to rule interference out, which is why a broken seal triggers an incident report rather than a conclusion. In American elections the chain is governed almost entirely by state statute, state administrative rule and county procedure manuals. The single federal rule is a preservation duty: 52 U.S.C. § 20701, Section 301 of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]], requiring 22-month retention of federal election records under criminal penalty — and giving no one outside the Department of Justice a route to inspect what is retained. Section 302 (§ 20702) extends the criminal penalty to *any person* who destroys or alters the records, and Section 303 (§ 20703) lets the Attorney General demand inspection on a stated "basis and purpose." ## Drop boxes A [[Ballot Drop Box]] takes ballots with nobody watching, so the chain is rebuilt at retrieval. [[Election Assistance Commission]] and CISA guidance calls for two workers, "preferably bipartisan," who log the date, time and seal number found, reseal and log the new number, and carry the ballots in a sealed container, emptying boxes "at least once a day" before Election Day. It is guidance; state law binds. ## The 2025–26 fights over who may take the records Every seal and log is built against an unauthorized hand. The 2026 disputes are about authorized ones. | Case | What happened | Where it stands | |---|---|---| | **Fulton County, Ga.** | FBI seized 600+ boxes of 2020 ballots and records under a warrant on Jan 28, 2026, in a DOJ inquiry into alleged 2020 "irregularities" | May 2026: Judge J.P. Boulee (N.D. Ga.) refused to order them returned, finding no showing that Fulton's rights "were callously disregarded" | | **Riverside County, Calif.** | Sheriff [[Chad Bianco]] took about 650,000 voted ballots from the registrar under a state warrant in March 2026, citing the November 2025 special election | Sept 24, 2026: California Supreme Court unanimously ordered them returned; the law "mandates that voted ballots remain in the custody of elections officials" | | **DOJ voter-roll demands** | DOJ demanded full voter files from most states and sued 31 states and D.C., citing the 1960 Act, the [[National Voter Registration Act]] and the [[Help America Vote Act]] | *United States v. Benson* (6th Cir., June 24, 2026): Michigan's own list never "came into" the official's possession, and the demands lacked a proper basis and purpose. By mid-August DOJ had lost before 22 trial judges and won no appeal (Bloomberg Government, one source) | The voter-roll cases put the 1960 Act to a use it was not written for. A statute passed to stop registrars from destroying evidence of discrimination is now the lead authority in federal demands for state voter files. See [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]]. ## See Also - [[Election Ballot Chain of Custody Flow]] - [[Logic and Accuracy Testing]] · [[Ballot Reconciliation]] · [[Ballot Drop Box]] - [[Election Canvass]] · [[Risk-Limiting Audit]] · [[Cast Vote Record]] - [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]] · [[Department of Justice]] · [[Jocelyn Benson]] · [[Chad Bianco]]