A former Upstate New York county political party leader may not access digital copies of ballots cast during a general election nearly four years ago, the New York Court of Appeals said in a decision handed down Thursday.

The Court of Appeals ruled that a section of the state election law allowed Essex County to deny a request from Bethany Kosmider for digital copies of ballots cast in the 2015 election because she didn’t have a court order to review those documents.