EPEC NEWS

From EPEC Team Newsletter:

EPEC Team is in the process of acquiring election records from the 2024 election — and beyond. Many grassroots groups are also requesting the records, and we are happy to assist where we can.

We noted in our last issue of EPEC Team Voter News some issues with the Dept. of Elections as we carry out our charitable mission.

Today we are announcing our latest project to raise funds dedicated to paying for the time and materials for General Registrars to produce these records, as required by Virginia statute.

We put together a brief Q&A with EPEC Team’s volunteer Board member Chris Rohland to help explain the project.

Q: Why is EPEC Team Requesting These Records?

Our team is collecting data from the entire state [Commonwealth], at the source where it is being generated, which is each county. Our preliminary data analysis of the 2024 November General Election has prompted us to explore further data collection projects for analysis. The proper way to do this is through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to each General Registrar in Virginia to ensure the provenance of our source data.

Q: What’s the Urgency?

Virginia State Law for record retention requires General Registrars to destroy data after two years. The costs of the 2024 November General Election FOIA records are going to be the most expensive as this election generated the most data. With these funds, we are also collecting some of the 2022 November General Election data before the record retention time expires.

Q: What Kind of Response Have You Received from General Registrars?

The EPEC Team has received responses ranging from thought leaders on the records requests (Mr. Eric Olsen, General Registrar of Prince William County), to risk-adverse absolutists.

By way of background, ELECT distributed guidance to General Registrars statewide regarding copying election records for the public on Sept. 2, 2022. Inconsistent application of this guidance has impacted our current FOIA request efforts. It demonstrates a need for law and policy changes at the state level so these records are more accessible and not subject to arbitrary interpretation of such tight restriction by any single General Registrar.

Q: What Kind of Election Data Are You Collecting?

Everything we possibly can (afford) related to machine-generated data at the county/precinct level.

Populous counties generate more data and more records, and are naturally more expensive to obtain. Anomalies are not exclusive to only big counties; therefore, we also have to obtain data and records from a sampling of small and mid-sized counties up front to maximize our funds.

We would like to acquire all records from all counties. However, we have to prioritize because of our limited budget. That’s why we started this GiveSendGo campaign dedicated to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) costs.

Q: Where can I donate?

You can go to our latest Give Send Go campaign here to pitch in. All the funds are dedicated to paying FOIA costs.