Macomb County court affirms decisions rejecting requests for sensitive election information

Jocelyn Benson | Ken Coleman

Macomb Circuit Court Judge Edward A. Servitto has dismissed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claims brought against 16 Michigan cities and townships, according to a Thursday announcement from the Department of Attorney General. 

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the plaintiff, Michael Lewis Butz, sued the municipalities and their clerks after they denied FOIA requests for voter history files from electronic pollbooks, following advice from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. 

The requested records included public information alongside sensitive voter data and proprietary information that local officials cannot readily remove or redact. The clerks were instructed to deny the requests in order to protect this information and the security of Michigan’s electronic voter list and told to redirect the requests to the Michigan Department of State, which could readily provide the requested information without the protected data. 

Butz argued Benson did not have the authority to provide guidance to the cities and townships in the case, and that the production of records from the Bureau of Elections was insufficient, because each township and city must respond to his requests and produce the publicly disclosable information, asserting each of the cities and townships had the ability to provide properly redacted documents. He also argued the records exemptions did not apply. 

The Department of Attorney General intervened in the case on Benson’s behalf to assist the local clerks and defend the Secretary’s authority in managing state election data. While Butz and his attorney Stefanie Lambert Junttila attempted to disqualify the attorney general from participating in the case due to charges filed against Lambert Junttila by the Department of Attorney General, Servitto rejected the motion. 

The department announced charges against Lambert Junttila in May contending she illicitly transmitted data concerning the 2020 general election from the Adams Township electronic poll book under Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott’s direction. 

Lambert Juntilla is also facing charges as part of an investigation into alleged tampering with voting machines and is slated for trial on Oct. 21. 

Servitto ultimately rejected Butz’s arguments, finding the requests were properly denied. Because the Secretary had already provided Butz with the requested data, the court dismissed the FOIA claims as moot. 

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