Judge issues temporary restraining order against Newton County Commission

 

An attempt by the Newton County Commission to move voting machines from their current storage place one week before the election has been put on hold after Judge Kevin Selby issued a temporary restraining order today and scheduled a 1:30 p.m. November 10 hearing.

According to a motion for an injunction and writ of prohibition that was filed Monday in Newton County Circuit Court by Newton County Clerk Tami Owens, she received a letter from the Commission October 21 telling her that the Commission planned to turn the former courtroom in the courthouse that has been used to store voting machines since the opening of the Newton County Judicial Facility in 2018 into a conference room.

The petition says Owens was told she needed to decide on a new location by October 23 "otherwise the commission would potentially begin the process of moving election equipment. The Commission indicated that it intended to commence construction on the new conference room immediately." The letter requested the county clerk respond by October 26 and indicated the Commission wanted the new conference room ready for use by December 1.

In the letter, the Commission said the voting machines could be stored at the Ozark Terminal or the Newton County Armory.

The Secretary of State's office told the commissioners the earliest the move should take place would be December 14 if no recount is requested and January 4 if there is a recount, but the commissioners continued with the plan, according to the petition.

"The letter presumes that after voting machines are removed for the November election, they will be returned to the county clerk's office for storage and that other equipment and accessories not required for the election would be moved to the county clerk's office on Election Day.

"This is simply untenable- the clerk's office has neither the size nor the capacity to handle such an influx. Nor does it have the security or the infrastructure to handle the security concerns on such short notice."

The Commissioners indicated they would move the voting machines to the county clerk's office before Election Day, the petition said.

The petition noted that the Commission's plan would "threaten disruption of election security, compromise of physical security and chain of custody, increased risk to the integrity of election equipment and materials and harm to vote confidence."

The temporary restraining order will remain in effect until Judge Selby removes it.

***