Newsletter: Fighting for the Public’s Right to Information

On Thursday, American Oversight filed a brief in the Texas Supreme Court opposing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s and Attorney General Ken Paxton’s petition for the court to dismiss our ongoing public records lawsuit.

Inquiriespress@americanoversight.org

We sued Abbott’s and Paxton’s offices more than two years ago, and this is their third attempt to dismiss our case.
In our brief, we urged the court to force the release of the requested records, which include email communications with gun industry lobbyists and supporters following the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, and any emails sent by Paxton around the Jan. 6 insurrection, when he spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House.

Abbott and Paxton attempted to dismiss the case in both the District Court and the Texas Court of Appeals, but both courts allowed the case to proceed.

The appeals court held that the trial court could compel the governor and attorney general “to produce public information” under the state’s Public Information Act (PIA), and that American Oversight had sufficiently alleged that the officials’ responses to requests were “incomplete.”

In their most recent attempt to dismiss, Abbott and Paxton advanced a number of problematic arguments, including claiming the trial court cannot review the actions of executive officials under the PIA, only the state Supreme Court can review the attorney general’s compliance with the law, and no court at all can enforce the law against the governor.
The officials also claimed their offices had fulfilled their PIA obligations under the PIA by merely responding to our requests — even though their responses included admissions that they continue to withhold some records and implausible claims that certain records do not exist or are exempt from disclosure — and are now shielded from being sued under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Demand Letters to Georgia Counties

Representing Free Speech for People, American Oversight sent a demand letter to the attorneys for Ware County, Ga., demanding production of a public record that appears to confirm the Trump campaign infiltrated the county’s voting system in late 2020.

Free Speech For People has sought the record — an attachment to a text message — through Georgia’s open records law since February. Attorneys representing the county have refused to produce the attachment, claiming it is private communication.
“As those spreading election conspiracy theories continue to gin up unfounded claims of faulty voting equipment to cast doubt on the validity of our election results, the threat posed by unauthorized access to critical voting infrastructure is real and must be taken seriously,” said American Oversight’s Chioma Chukwu.

We also sent a letter to Georgia’s Fulton County demanding the release of records we’d requested nearly three months ago. We’re seeking county officials’ communications with Trump-allied members of the State Election Board (SEB) and election denial activists, including those who were involved in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

The letter comes after a series of anti-democratic moves by the SEB, including allowing local election officials the discretion to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into the election before certifying results, opening the door for delays that could sow confusion and exacerbate distrust.
Fulton County was targeted in 2020 by those seeking to overturn the election, and the people of Georgia have a right to know if partisan operatives are pushing last-minute election rule changes for Georgia’s most populous county.

Attend Our Virtual Event Next Week!

Along with America’s Voice, Campaign Legal Center, and North Carolina Asian Americans Together, we’re hosting a virtual event titled “Democracy Under Threat: Far-Right Attacks on Immigrant Communities and Voting.” The event will examine how the anti-democracy movement is using conspiracy theories about illegal voting by noncitizens to undermine trust in elections.

The panel will explore how immigration has been consistently weaponized by anti-democracy groups and how election deniers have revived the hollow threat of widespread illegal voting to turn out their base in November.
Register here to join us Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 12 p.m. ET.

On the Records

Election Denier Spotlight: Garland Favorito

This week, CNN cited records we obtained from Georgia that highlight efforts by the national network of election denial activists to push misinformation and advocate for rules that would put power in the hands of fellow anti-democratic actors.

The records shed light on the actions of Garland Favorito, a Georgia-based activist who leads the group VoterGA.
In 2021, Favorito was in contact with the leaders of the partisan and problematic “audit” of the 2020 results in Arizona’s Maricopa County, the documents show.
In a March 2021 email, Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the firm that oversaw the Maricopa review, wrote to former Arizona Senate President Karen Fann that he had been in contact with Favorito about practices for inspecting ballots.

VoterGA has also worked with Trump-allied lawyer and voter-fraud alarmist Cleta Mitchell and her Election Integrity Network. Last week, Favorito appeared at a Georgia event protesting voting machines alongside former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Activists who claimed widespread fraud in the 2020 election are still pushing dangerous conspiracy theories in the leadup to November, laying the groundwork for more false claims of fraud if former President Trump loses.
We’ve been investigating this network of election denial activists — read more about our investigations here.

Newsletter: Fighting for the Public’s Right to Information

Demand Letters to Georgia Counties

Attend Our Virtual Event Next Week!

On the Records

Election Denier Spotlight: Garland Favorito

Other Stories We’re Following

Election Denial and Threats to Democracy

Voting Rights

In the States

LGBTQ Rights

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

Immigration

Trump Accountability