KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — We now know who Emily is. The Daily Beast has revealed the mysterious group behind the request for copies of Michigan ballots from the 2016 election as the Priorities USA Foundation, a non-profit underwritten by progressive philanthropists George Soros and Donald Sussman.
They have sent FOIA requests to nearly every municipal clerk in the state asking for copies of ballots and other election records.
Their apparent goal is to “defend voting rights wherever they are threatened” according to a statement from the group.
Kalamazoo City Clerk Scott Borling says they are still working on an estimate of how much it will cost to copy all their ballots, and how they could pull it off. Many clerks are looking at an extra charge because of the difficulty of photo-copying 19-inch long ballots.
He says he will follow the lead of the Secretary of State who is telling clerks to make sure they don’t jeopardize the integrity of the November election. That must be their first priority.
The voter reform group behind the FOIA requests has sued over half a dozen states over voting rights violations, looking for discrepancies, particularly in minority communities.
