By Alethia Kasben
Gongwer News Service
The Republican National Committee this week sued the Detroit Department of Elections after drop box video surveillance footage was automatically deleted despite a pending Freedom of Information Act request.
A release said Detroit had a clear legal obligation to preserve and provide the footage, which they violated.
Alexis Ware, a spokesperson for the city, said in a statement by the time the footage in this case was found, it was unavailable.
“The City of Detroit receives almost 9,000 FOIA requests each year. We work to comply with each request and in this case informed the requestor we would need more time,” the statement said. “By the time we found the video it had been reused and the requested footage was not available. We work every day to improve our processes, and our goal remains to preserve all data according to the policy.”
The RNC, however, said the deletion raises “serious election integrity alarms.”
The complaint says the FOIA request sought surveillance footage for August 7 and August 8, the two days after the August primary. The request was filed on August 20 and the footage could not be deleted until September 6, the complaint says.
However, the city asked for more time to process the FOIA before subsequently informing the requestor on September 16 that the footage was no longer available. Footage is recorded over automatically after 30 days, the lawsuit says.
The complaint asks the court to ensure the city preserves footage or information if it is the subject of a FOIA request.
The lawsuit, filed in the Wayne County Circuit Court, is one of several the RNC has filed related to the election issues in Michigan and other states.
Gongwer News Service
The Republican National Committee this week sued the Detroit Department of Elections after drop box video surveillance footage was automatically deleted despite a pending Freedom of Information Act request.
A release said Detroit had a clear legal obligation to preserve and provide the footage, which they violated.
Alexis Ware, a spokesperson for the city, said in a statement by the time the footage in this case was found, it was unavailable.
“The City of Detroit receives almost 9,000 FOIA requests each year. We work to comply with each request and in this case informed the requestor we would need more time,” the statement said. “By the time we found the video it had been reused and the requested footage was not available. We work every day to improve our processes, and our goal remains to preserve all data according to the policy.”
The RNC, however, said the deletion raises “serious election integrity alarms.”
The complaint says the FOIA request sought surveillance footage for August 7 and August 8, the two days after the August primary. The request was filed on August 20 and the footage could not be deleted until September 6, the complaint says.
However, the city asked for more time to process the FOIA before subsequently informing the requestor on September 16 that the footage was no longer available. Footage is recorded over automatically after 30 days, the lawsuit says.
The complaint asks the court to ensure the city preserves footage or information if it is the subject of a FOIA request.
The lawsuit, filed in the Wayne County Circuit Court, is one of several the RNC has filed related to the election issues in Michigan and other states.
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