Description of Project / Cases

During the spring and summer of 2011, I sent out open record requests for the contents of the removable memory cards used in various pieces of voting equipment. There were 4 sets of OR requests to check for compliance with the election record retention statute WI Stats. 7.23.(1)(g)

• The batch of OR requests sent on March 1, 2011 were sent to the 25 most populous municipalities in order to see if the contents of the memory cards from the February 15, 2011 primary election had been remained undisturbed on the card for the required 14 days.
• The batch of OR requests sent on March 15, 2011 were sent to the 25 most populous municipalities + the most populous municipality in each county not on the top 25 list. This was to see if the contents of the memory cards from the federal elections (September 12 and November 2, 201) had been backed up as required by state and federal law.
• The batch of OR requests sent on April 7, 2011 were sent to the 25 most populous municipalities in order to see if the contents of the memory cards from the April 5, 2011 general election. The purpose was to ask for the memory card contents soon enough after the election that the contents of the cards would still exist.
• The batch of OR requests sent on July 26, 2011 were sent to municipalities within the districts of State Senators facing recall. This was to entangle the records from the July 12, 2011 election, generate denials in writing, and from among the denials, formulate the basis of 1 or more OR enforcement actions.

What I asked for is everything within the Black line found on this Contents of A Generic Memory Card.

From among the denials, my attorney and I initiated 4 open records enforcement actions:

• City of Green Bay / Brown County — The entire memory card contents are exempt from disclosure (even the candidate vote totals stored on the card) are exempt from disclosure because some of the information on the card is a computer program and/or a trade secret owned by the voting machine vendor: ES&S. City of Green Bay also claims to not be the legal custodian of the record requested.
• Village of Butler / Waukesha County — The memory card contents exist, but that copying the electronic data on the memory card to a CD-ROM is impossible. Also the County claims the Village is the legal custodian of the record requested and the Village cross-claims the County is the legal custodian of the record requested.
• Village of Bayside — The memory card contents exist and can be copied but the "necessary and actual cost for reproduction" total $450; $200 for contents of one card type and $250 for the contents of the other card type.
• Village of Fox Point — The memory card contents exist and can be copied but the "necessary and actual cost for reproduction" total $450; $200 for contents of one card type and $250 for the contents of the other card type.

The document archive for the above is located here