RNC sues Detroit over surveillance footage deleted from ballot drop boxes after FOIA request

The Republican National Committee (RNC) sued the city of Detroit on Wednesday for deleting surveillance footage from the polls, despite the committee’s request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The commission submitted the FOIA request in August, after being alerted to a possible election security issue during the primaries. The request asked for images from August 7 and 8. The city announced Aug. 21 that it would provide the footage, but requested an extension to secure it.

The city then alerted the RNC on September 16 that the images had been “automatically” deleted because they were 30 days old. The RNC claimed the deletion was a “flagrant violation” of FOIA because it had a legal responsibility to protect the footage when processing the records request.

“Deleting surveillance footage from the drop box while a FOIA request is pending is an attack on transparency,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. “This breach of trust is exactly what is reducing confidence in our elections. We will hold Detroit accountable, because this secrecy has no place in fair and secure elections – Michiganders deserve much better.”

The committee said it was suing the city because Detroit failed to follow the image protection law and to ensure a similar incident does not happen again during the November general election.

Misty Severi is an evening reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on for more coverage