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Freedom of Information Act (United States): Difference between revisions
Freedom of Information Act (United States) (view source)
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== Abuse of FOIA requests == | == Abuse of FOIA requests == | ||
Since 2020, election officials across the U.S. have reported an overwhelming increase in records requests from apparent [[Election denial movement in the United States|election deniers]] attempting to disrupt the functioning of local and county election offices.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Amy |last2=Marley |first2=Patrick |date=2022-09-13 |title=Trump backers flood election offices with requests as 2022 vote nears |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/11/trump-election-deniers-voting/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Often unreasonably broad, repetitive, or based on misinformation, the high volume of requests has led to what a Colorado official said amounts to "a [[denial-of-service attack]] on local government." Local election officials in Florida and Michigan have reported spending 25-70% of staff time in recent years on processing public records requests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Election Officials & the Misuse of Public Records Requests |url=https://electioninnovation.org/research/public-records-requests/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=The Center for Election Innovation & Research |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2022, officials in [[Maricopa County, Arizona]] reported one request that required nearly half the election office’s staff to spend four days sorting and scanning 20,000 documents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Layne |first=Nathan |date=August 3, 2022 |title=Insight: Pro-Trump activists swamp election officials with sprawling records requests |website= | Since 2020, election officials across the U.S. have reported an overwhelming increase in records requests from apparent [[Election denial movement in the United States|election deniers]] attempting to disrupt the functioning of local and county election offices.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Amy |last2=Marley |first2=Patrick |date=2022-09-13 |title=Trump backers flood election offices with requests as 2022 vote nears |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/11/trump-election-deniers-voting/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Often unreasonably broad, repetitive, or based on misinformation, the high volume of requests has led to what a Colorado official said amounts to "a [[denial-of-service attack]] on local government." Local election officials in Florida and Michigan have reported spending 25-70% of staff time in recent years on processing public records requests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Election Officials & the Misuse of Public Records Requests |url=https://electioninnovation.org/research/public-records-requests/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=The Center for Election Innovation & Research |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2022, officials in [[Maricopa County, Arizona]] reported one request that required nearly half the election office’s staff to spend four days sorting and scanning 20,000 documents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Layne |first=Nathan |date=August 3, 2022 |title=Insight: Pro-Trump activists swamp election officials with sprawling records requests |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pro-trump-activists-swamp-election-officials-with-sprawling-records-requests-2022-08-03/ |access-date=September 9, 2024}}</ref> | ||
A review of recent state laws by the Center for Election Innovation & Research found at least 13 states that have sought to protect election staff from the abuse of FOIA requests in several ways, such as creating publicly accessible databases that do not require staff assistance and giving election staff the authority to deny unreasonable or clearly frivolous requests.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-09 |title=Lawmakers eye more exemptions to target "abuse'" of FOIA |url=https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-01308df97ce01632451c8e4aacecda3c |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> | A review of recent state laws by the Center for Election Innovation & Research found at least 13 states that have sought to protect election staff from the abuse of FOIA requests in several ways, such as creating publicly accessible databases that do not require staff assistance and giving election staff the authority to deny unreasonable or clearly frivolous requests.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-09 |title=Lawmakers eye more exemptions to target "abuse'" of FOIA |url=https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-01308df97ce01632451c8e4aacecda3c |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> | ||