>>>Different rules in Montgomery or Jacksonville than in the rural counties, for instance? And they all get to decide for themselves
For the retention of digital images of the paper ballots, yes each county can decide for itself. For the retention of the paper ballots themselves, no. All counties are required to retain them for 22 months.
See my post right before your post to me. At http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama/1975/11-46-53.htm it says the voting machines are to be sealed until the opportunity to file a contest is past. Setting the machines to delete the images doesn’t seem to fit that requirement, at all. Once the vote is done and the totals are retrieved from the machines, they are to be sealed.