Tippecanoe Co.’s 2020 election data targeted by Trump backers

Indiana Election Division, state’s public access counselor weigh in as copy-and-paste requests to get 2020 vote machine records pile up, get denied across the state, across the nation

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STATE’S PUBLIC ACCESS COUNSELOR WEIGHS IN AS COPY-AND-PASTE REQUESTS TO GET 2020 VOTE MACHINE RECORDS PILE UP

The first public record requests for particular voter data from the 2020 general election, often with identical language and calling for large computer files, started coming in earnest to Tippecanoe County’s election office in the summer of 2021, Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush said.

Roush said she knew other county clerks across the state were getting similar requests using terms used for data stored on voting machines not used in Indiana but that had been targeted in other states by groups who have questioned and denied the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

“They all said they were demanding transparency, which I’m all for,” Roush said. “Some wanted to know about things like passwords and other things we can’t provide. … But often they were asking for data and backups and things in terms that we had a hard time figuring out what they really wanted. And when we’d ask them what they meant, they couldn’t explain.”

Starting in late August 2022, the requests intensified, Roush said. In the course of a couple of weeks, the county’s election office fielded dozens of requests with copy-and-paste requests for data called a “cast vote record.”