On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Michigan, for violating state law by deleting ballot drop box surveillance footage.
Today, the RNC was forced to sue Detroit's Department of Elections for deleting drop box surveillance footage AFTER it had been requested via the Freedom of Information Act.
Anyone that tells you vote fraud isn't real is LYING.
— GreatAmericanMail (@mail_american) October 17, 2024
Last month, Michigan resident Jonathan Koch sent in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Michigan government, demanding that the Detroit Department of Elections hand over footage monitoring a specific ballot drop box in the city. The city instead deleted or recorded over the footage, claiming that they only had to keep it for 30 days. There’s just one problem — Koch’s FOIA request was sent long before the 30-day timeframe.
Koch has since filed a lawsuit alongside the RNC, accusing Detroit’s Department of Elections of violating Michigan’s FOIA laws and other state laws mandating the retention of the footage.
In the lawsuit, Koch and the RNC argue that Detroit purged the footage despite having an active request for it that was filed long before they would have been allowed to delete it.
RNC chairman Michael Whatley issued a statement explaining the lawsuit, which read: “Deleting drop box surveillance footage while there is a pending FOIA request for it is an assault on transparency. This breach of trust is exactly what reduces confidence in our elections. We will hold Detroit accountable, as this secrecy has no place in a fair and secure election — Michiganders deserve far better.”
RNC Sues Detroit for Deleting Dropbox Surveillance Footage
⬇️⬇️⬇️https://t.co/F4Wou0W4Vy pic.twitter.com/IgXQ3us6aI
— RNC Election Integrity (@RNCVoteProtect) October 17, 2024
Koch sent in the FOIA request on August 20, requesting footage from August 7 and August 8 monitoring a ballot drop box located at Wayne County Community College during the state’s primary election. He also requested all records on the construction and installation of the drop box. Detroit election officials waited until September 16 to inform Koch that they no longer had the footage, citing the 30-day rule.
The city of Detroit sent a denial letter, which told Koch that he “was informed that video is no longer available after 30 days and is recorded over.”
This was clearly a lie, as the 30-day rule means that the footage should have been kept at least until September 6, and Koch had filed his request 27 days before he received the response and 16 days before they would have been allowed to delete the footage.
In the lawsuit, the RNC pointed out that Detroit had a “clear legal duty to retain video surveillance of absent vote ballot drop boxes after receiving a timely FOIA request for such public records.”
“Specifically, the response indicated that the video surveillance records were recorded over after thirty (30) days, despite Koch’s request having been received fourteen (14) days after the record was created and sixteen (16) days before the record could be deleted,” the lawsuit continued.
The lawsuit called on a judge to order Detroit to follow its own footage retention policies in the future and to formally declare that the city had violated state public records laws.
This is not the first time this year that the RNC was forced to sue Detroit for shady business surrounding elections, as they also filed a lawsuit in August after finding out that the city had hired seven times more Democrats than Republicans for poll worker positions for the November election.
The RNC is suing Detroit after learning the city allegedly hired 7 times more Democrats than Republicans as poll workers for this election. This comes as states across the country keep finding thousands of foreign nationals on state voter rolls. pic.twitter.com/zp3sMW4l47
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 27, 2024
