LANSING — The Republican National Committee is suing the city of Lansing.
The lawsuit, filed in February in Ingham County Circuit Court, follows a public records request the RNC sent on Nov. 26, seeking copies of surveillance video from absentee ballot drop boxes in the city on Nov. 5, Election Day.
The RNC submitted similar requests to East Lansing, Delta Township, Flint, Detroit, Battle Creek and Muskegon, among others, and in its lawsuit said Lansing charged far more than any others. Detroit, Delta Township and Muskegon didn’t require any fee.
Scott Bean, a spokesperson for Mayor Andy Schor, said in a statement that the city doesn’t comment on active litigation, but “is confident of its compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and an answer to the complaint will be filed soon.”
The RNC said in a statement that the public has a right to see the video.
“The City of Lansing is throwing up completely unnecessary obstacles and violating Michigan law to discourage citizens from requesting records about our elections, just like this footage of ballot drop boxes,” the statement read. “It’s outrageous, and the RNC will hold localities accountable if they choose to stonewall instead of following the law.”
The state’s Freedom of Information Act is an often-used law that lets anyone — political organizations, reporters, attorneys, advocates and citizens — access government records such police reports, emails, personnel files, contracts and invoices. But the law has its limits.
The governor and state lawmakers are still exempt. And cities, counties, state agencies and school boards have broad authority to charge fees they deem appropriate before starting work on a request. State law sets some limits on the kind of work that governments can charge for, but high fees or inconsistent fees from agency to agency are common. So are inconsistent or extensive redactions, as well as withheld records.
Some states have a public access counselor as part of their FOIA law. The counselor, usually housed in the state attorney general’s office, is meant as a third-party arbiter if there’s a dispute over fees or redactions. Michigan’s public records law, however, doesn’t. It requires an appeal to the head of the agency, in effect asking the government to rethink its decision, or that the requester file a lawsuit.
Before it went to court, the RNC asked Lansing to reconsider the $4,795 fee and $2,397 deposit it said was needed to begin work. Farmington Hills, Flint and Troy charged deposits between $693 and $630, according to the lawsuit. East Lansing asked for a $300 deposit and Battle Creek wanted $140.
“Put simply, there is no reason why the City’s fee estimate is orders of magnitude higher than its sister jurisdictions,” Jonathan Koch, the Grand Rapids-based attorney representing the RNC wrote in the appeal letter. “So, if it isn’t waived, the fee must be severely reduced.”
Two weeks later, Lansing City Council President Ryan Kost denied the appeal. He wrote that the fee was appropriate because a city employee would have to watch 240 hours of video to make sure what was released didn’t contain any nonpublic information.
“Whether other municipalities are as thorough in their review before releasing information has no bearing on the estimate provided by the City,” Kost wrote.
The RNC then sued.
“(T)he City’s assertion that video footage of a drop box located in public — a place where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy — could possibly invade an individual’s privacy is wrong as a matter of law,” Koch wrote in the lawsuit.
In Michigan, whether someone cast a ballot is public information, but who they voted for is not.
Lansing has 14 absentee voter drop boxes around the city, including six outside city fire departments. Once voting in an election begins, voters can cast absentee ballots in the drop boxes, which are locked, secured to the ground and under video surveillance, which is required by state law. State law also designates when clerks must begin daily collection from drop boxes, usually starting as Election Day nears.
Story from November: How did Lansing-area residents cast ballots? Absentee, early voting were popular
About 45% of the roughly 50,000 Lansing residents who voted in the November election cast absentee ballots. Those voters mailed them back to their local clerk, dropped ballots in drop boxes or returned them in person. In all of Ingham County, about 43% of voters cast cast absentee ballots in November, along with 40% of Eaton County voters and 27% of Clinton County voters.
Despite claims to the contrary, there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. The 2024 election was also secure and fair.
If the RNC wins its FOIA lawsuit, Lansing could be ordered to pay the RNC’s attorney fees and more than $2,000 in fines if a judge rules the city “arbitrarily and capriciously” violated the state’s public records law.
As of March 14, the city has not responded to the lawsuit in court.
Contact reporter Matt Mencarini at mjmencarini@lsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: RNC is suing Lansing over FOIA fees related to ballot drop box video
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