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ESCANABA -- Thousands of Escanaba ballots and other voter documents from the 2016 presidential election that were held beyond the legal retention period will be destroyed following a unanimous vote of the Escanaba City Council Thursday.
The documents were held following a large-scale Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) campaign by the Priorities USA Foundation last August. As part of a "research effort," a non-profit group affiliated with Priorities USA Action, the largest Democratic Super PAC, filed FOIA requests with communities across the state asking for copies of election day ballots, absentee ballots, provincial ballots, envelopes used for absentee ballots including voter signatures, the names and all data available for anyone who requested an absentee ballot, and other related documents. Each request was simply signed "Emily" and asked the documents be shipped to a P.O. Box in New York.
By law, the city was permitted to request 50 percent of the total estimated cost of filling the request as a downpayment before starting any work on the request. The city estimated the total bill would have been over $3,294. No payment, in full or in part, was received by the city's deadline.
"I think the time has come to say that FOIA request has died for lack of response and we should direct whoever's in charge to destroy those ballots," said Council member Ralph Blaiser.
The ballots were slated to be destroyed on Sept. 9, 2018, after the 22 month retention period had passed, but the Michigan Municipal League and the Michigan Attorney General both recommended cities hold on to the documents for six months to avoid legal liabilities.