CERA Records Management and Public Records 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under most state open records laws, how quickly must an election office typically acknowledge receipt of a public records request?
- Within 24 hours
- Within 3 to 5 business days (Correct answer)
- Within 30 calendar days
- Within 60 calendar days
Correct answer: Within 3 to 5 business days
Most state open records statutes require agencies to acknowledge receipt of a request within 3 to 5 business days, though fulfillment may take longer.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a litigation hold in an election office?
- To speed up the processing of public records requests
- To suspend the destruction of records relevant to pending or reasonably anticipated litigation (Correct answer)
- To encrypt voter data before transferring it to courts
- To create duplicate copies of all election records
Correct answer: To suspend the destruction of records relevant to pending or reasonably anticipated litigation
A litigation hold (also called a legal hold) preserves records that may be relevant to current or anticipated lawsuits, overriding the normal retention schedule.
Question 3: Which standard is most commonly referenced for managing electronic records in government agencies, including election offices?
- ISO 9001
- DoD 5015.2 (Correct answer)
- NIST SP 800-53
- IEEE 802.11
Correct answer: DoD 5015.2
DoD 5015.2 is the widely recognized standard for records management software used by government agencies to manage electronic records.
Question 4: An election office receives a request for a list of voters who voted in the last primary election. This type of record is generally known as:
- A voter registration list
- A poll book or voter history file (Correct answer)
- A ballot manifest
- A canvass report
Correct answer: A poll book or voter history file
A poll book or voter history file records which registered voters actually cast a ballot in a given election, and is frequently requested under open records laws.
Question 5: If a requester asks for records in a specific electronic format, what is the general obligation of most state election offices under modern open records laws?
- Provide only paper copies regardless of format requested
- Provide records in the requested format if readily available (Correct answer)
- Deny requests for electronic formats to protect system security
- Convert all records to PDF before responding
Correct answer: Provide records in the requested format if readily available
Modern open records laws generally require agencies to provide records in the requested electronic format if the agency already maintains them in that format.
Question 6: What does the term 'vital records' mean in the context of election office records management?
- Birth and death certificates filed with the election office
- Records essential to resuming operations during or after a disaster (Correct answer)
- Records that must be made public within 24 hours
- Records older than 25 years that must be archived
Correct answer: Records essential to resuming operations during or after a disaster
Vital records are those essential to an organization's ability to resume critical functions after a disaster, such as voter registration databases and election results.
Question 7: Which practice best protects election office electronic records from unauthorized alteration while preserving their long-term accessibility?
- Storing all records on a single shared drive
- Using write-once/read-many (WORM) storage with regular backups (Correct answer)
- Printing all digital records immediately and storing only paper
- Allowing only the chief election officer to access digital files
Correct answer: Using write-once/read-many (WORM) storage with regular backups
WORM storage prevents alteration of written data and, combined with regular backups, ensures records remain authentic and accessible over time.
CERA Records Management and Public Records 2
Under most state open records laws, how quickly must an election office typically acknowledge receipt of a public records request?