Government Oversight
Public records requests are one way that citizens can oversee their government’s activities. There are some circumstances that allow for records to be withheld from disclosure, but outside of those specific exemptions, records are to be released to the public upon request.
What does state law say about public records requests?
RCW 42.56.030
Construction.
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created. This chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy and to assure that the public interest will be fully protected
Our Experience
Some Washington counties are taking excessive amounts of time to disclose requested records. There is no reason it should take longer than six months to disclose records. Yet this is happening in multiple counties when it comes to election related records.
See what state law says regarding response times below.
RCW 42.56.520
Prompt responses required.
(1) Responses to requests for public records shall be made promptly by agencies, the office of the secretary of the senate, and the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives. Within five business days of receiving a public record request, an agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives must respond in one of the ways provided in this subsection (1):
(a) Providing the record;
(b) Providing an internet address and link on the agency’s website to the specific records requested, except that if the requester notifies the agency that he or she cannot access the records through the internet, then the agency must provide copies of the record or allow the requester to view copies using an agency computer;
(c) Acknowledging that the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives has received the request and providing a reasonable estimate of the time the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives will require to respond to the request;
(d) Acknowledging that the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives has received the request and asking the requestor to provide clarification for a request that is unclear, and providing, to the greatest extent possible, a reasonable estimate of the time the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives will require to respond to the request if it is not clarified; or
(e) Denying the public record request.
(2) Additional time required to respond to a request may be based upon the need to clarify the intent of the request, to locate and assemble the information requested, to notify third persons or agencies affected by the request, or to determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request.
(3)(a) In acknowledging receipt of a public record request that is unclear, an agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives may ask the requestor to clarify what information the requestor is seeking.
(b) If the requestor fails to respond to an agency request to clarify the request, and the entire request is unclear, the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives need not respond to it. Otherwise, the agency must respond, pursuant to this section, to those portions of the request that are clear.
(4) Denials of requests must be accompanied by a written statement of the specific reasons therefor. Agencies, the office of the secretary of the senate, and the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall establish mechanisms for the most prompt possible review of decisions denying inspection, and such review shall be deemed completed at the end of the second business day following the denial of inspection and shall constitute final agency action or final action by the office of the secretary of the senate or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives for the purposes of judicial review.
Newsflash!
Here are real processing times from various counties:
1st Example
From the 2023 General election, we requested the list of undeliverable ballots. By November 28th, Kitsap, Mason, Garfield, and Island Counties had provided records. Meanwhile, Walla Walla took until Feb 26th to provide them. Some counties never provided them. Some referred us to the SOS, but when we received the record from them, half the counties were missing from the list.
2nd Example
We also requested a list of all ballots issued and received for the same election. By December 7th, Clark and Benton Counties had both provided the record. There is no information which requires redactions on this particular record.
However, Snohomish County waited until January 27th to start releasing part of the record. At the time of this article, they have sent 6 installments of the same record, and we are still awaiting the 7th, which may or may not be the rest of the record…
The record is ONE LIST available for export within VoteWA. Why are they breaking up this one record into so many parts and sending a portion every month? This is creating a lot more work for a single record. It’s a waste of time and resources. They could have someone process the record once and respond one time but instead they want to have someone respond 10 times and divide the record up. This is really pulling down the level of trust we have in them.
3rd and Final Example
One more example. We requested the adjudication logs from all the counties except Mason, as they publish these, along with other records, on their website following the election. (Smart move!) By December 12th, Jefferson County had provided a record that includes this information. By December 19th, Lewis, Pierce, and King Counties had provided records. Kittitas County still has us waiting for this record from the 2022 general election! And estimate they need until summer 2024 to complete the request.
What’s Their Excuse?
How are the counties justifying their delayed response times? As I mentioned, they are providing records in installments and stretching each installment out about a month apart. They may claim staff shortages, which is unacceptable, especially in Snohomish, where they have been claiming staff shortages for at least three years. You would think they would have this sorted out by now.
The only explanation that makes sense for what we are seeing is that they are intentionally slow-rolling the requests related to elections. But why would they want to do this? Surely for no good reason. Probably no legal reason, either.
“Reasonable” Time Frame
The five days allowed by state law should be sufficient time for someone to pull a record and send it to the requestor. Of course, there will be certain records which require more time if redactions are required. But there is no reason one county can get the request processed within a week while others need 6+ months. This is abuse and election interference. By the time we get all the records we request, we often are already in a new election cycle. Maybe that is the point. In case we find something, they don’t want us to find, it’s too late, or we have moved on to the current election, and they think we won’t have interest in a prior election anymore.
Whatever their thinking, it’s absolutely wrong for them to act this way. Their job is to provide the records to the public upon request. Not to stall and drag their feet until they feel like they have punished us enough before providing complete records.
Where is it Coming From?
The counties aren’t the only ones who drag out records requests. The Secretary of State’s office does too. In fact, we believe the SOS may have instructed the counties to do so. There is a clear collaboration between the counties that take their sweet time releasing records.
Secret Meetings
We know that they were, and possibly still are, having weekly “touch base meetings” to discuss election related records and kept a spreadsheet to track who has requested what, and what was provided, or what excuse they used to deny the requests. Why would they need to meet with other county officials to fulfill a records request? They should consult with their prosecutor if they have questions about whether something is disclosable, not conspire amongst themselves to withhold at will or take a year to provide requested records.
Abuse of Authority
Some counties are clearly abusing their authority to interfere with citizen oversight of elections. Elections through which they were granted any authority they are now abusing.
