RNC accuses Detroit of deleting drop box surveillance footage, lawsuit says
(CBS DETROIT) - The Republican National Committee has filed another lawsuit against Detroit, alleging that the city deleted drop box surveillance footage and violated the Freedom of Information Act.
Jonathan Koch and the RNC filed the lawsuit against the City of Detroit Department of Elections on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that they had requested drop box surveillance footage from the city earlier this year, but it was deleted, and the RNC never received it.
On Aug. 20, the Koch allegedly submitted a FOIA request for the surveillance footage on behalf of the RNC. The request was submitted for footage in connection to the "Absent Voter Ballot Drop Box" on the Northwest Campus of Wayne County Community College at 8200 W. Outer Drive, according to the lawsuit.
The city acknowledged receiving the request on Aug. 21, and on Aug. 24, it sent a letter asking for an extension of their response deadline by 10 more business days under MCL 15.235(2)(d).
On Sept. 16, Koch received an electronic response from the city, in which they said, "The video is no longer available after 30 days and is recorded over," according to the lawsuit.
"Deleting footage that is the subject of a pending FOIA request—submitted more than two weeks before the footage was deleted—is a clear violation of FOIA," the RNC said. "Detroit had a clear legal obligation to preserve and provide the footage, which they violated."
The RNC says it has filed this lawsuit to "hold the city accountable for its failure to maintain drop box footage while FOIA requests are pending" and to make sure this doesn't happen for the November election.
"Deleting drop box surveillance footage while there is a pending FOIA request for it is an assault on transparency," said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley. "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."
In addition, the RNC also filed a lawsuit against the city in August, alleging that city officials didn't hire enough Republican poll workers.
The city of Detroit issued the following response to the RNC's latest lawsuit:
"Our own failure to respond to the FOIA in a timely manner gave the RNC the opportunity to file a frivolous lawsuit. The filing is designed to cause embarrassment and to undermine faith in our ability to run a problem free election. I guarantee you there was no nefarious activity at the locations where video tapes were requested. That said here is what I would say The City of Detroit receives almost 9,000 FOIA request each year. We work to comply with each request and in this case informed the requestor we would need more time. 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."