Skip to Content

Midterms Are Approaching—And DOJ Is Still Hiding Election Plans

Less than two weeks before the midterm elections, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is continuing to use every tool in its toolbox to conceal efforts to use tax dollars to take control of state elections. The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) is fighting in court, in the press, and at the local level to expose these efforts by the Biden administration to undermine our elections.

Here’s the latest on FGA v. DOJ:

Instead of full transparency—as ordered by a judge in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from FGA—the Department of Justice refused to comply with a court order to fully turn over public records, responding instead with heavily redacted documents and withheld records

DOJ recently filed a motion for summary judgment to the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Ft. Myers that the FOIA documents they withheld or redacted are protected by the presidential-communications privilege or are a pre-decisional document protected by the deliberative-process privilege. They also claimed that releasing information about the upcoming election would cause “public confusion” over what appears to be an unconstitutional, taxpayer-funded “get out the vote” effort on behalf of the president’s political party. 

In other words, they continue to defy the court order that requires them to release these records to us. 

FGA is committed to holding the Biden administration accountable for its lack of transparency and will be filing a motion with the Court on November 3 demanding exactly that. Stay tuned. 

For more information on the FGA v. DOJ federal lawsuit, see here

Background:

President Biden’s Executive Order 14019 requires federal agency heads to create plans as to how their agencies will increase voter participation by registering and mobilizing voters. But the executive branch has no authority over state elections—state legislatures do. FGA filed a FOIA request to gather more details from federal agencies on the plans surrounding this executive order. 

The response from the administration? For 240 days, silence. A federal judge set a deadline of September 8 to produce documents, but DOJ refused to comply and provide the specifically requested documents, and what documents they did provide were heavily redacted. And now, with DOJ’s latest attempt to circumvent the legal process, the fight continues. 

American voters have the right to know what their government is doing. So why are federal agencies ignoring public record requests for strategic plans on federal voter registration efforts? 

More From FGA’s Election Experts:

In a recent video, FGA election experts and attorneys discuss the lawsuit and how not only do Americans deserve transparency in elections—but the law also requires it.

FGA envisions a future where “people can wake up the day after the election and know who won and believe that it was accurate, fair, and trustworthy.” Through thoughtful election reform, transparency on election funding, and holding government officials accountable, we can get closer to that day. 

Watch the video above or view on YouTube here.

At FGA, we don’t just talk about changing policy—we make it happen.

By partnering with FGA through a gift, you can create more policy change that returns America to a country where entrepreneurship thrives, personal responsibility is rewarded, and paychecks replace welfare checks.