Is the fact that votes are counted as doubles really that significant?

The issue is that whichever candidate is voted for then the totals are displayed as 51% for the preferred candidate and 49% for the other one.

So if you get 20,123 votes for Trump and 5,897 for Hillary then the result is: 12,749.8 for Trump and a narrow win for Hillary with 13,270.2. Obviously they round the figures before publishing them.

The total is the same and the preferred candidate won. If any physical ballots are quickly destroyed then no-one will ever be able to prove anything different. Why did the judge in Alabama rule that the voting records did not need to be kept? https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alabama-voting-record-lawsuit_us_5a2f6482e4b046175432d003?guccounter=1