Established Fact
On October 6, 2021, Macomb County Clerk Michael Grix contacted the Michigan Department of State and ES&S for FOIA policy guidance regarding a Pro V&V analysis of ES&S voting systems in use in the county. ES&S responded by recommending specific provisions of Michigan Compiled Law that county officials could use to deny public access to the analysis — effectively providing the county with a vendor-drafted FOIA obstruction playbook. This language was subsequently used by Macomb County as the basis for denying access to the detailed Pro V&V technical report. A private voting system vendor thereby directed the FOIA response posture of a governmental entity with respect to records concerning that vendor’s own systems.
Citations
On October 6, 2021, Macomb County Clerk Michael Grix contacted the Michigan Department of State and ES&S for FOIA policy guidance regarding a Pro V&V analysis of ES&S voting systems in use in the county. Source: October 6, 2021 email from Michael Grix (obtained through FOIA request by Patrick Colbeck, responded to by Macomb County’s Peter Jensen on September 23, 2025).
ES&S responded to the Macomb County clerk’s FOIA inquiry by recommending specific provisions of Michigan Compiled Law that could be used to deny public access to the Pro V&V analysis, amounting to vendor-directed FOIA obstruction guidance. Source: October 7, 2021 response from ES&S employee (same FOIA record set, see fn. 141).
The MCL provisions recommended by ES&S were subsequently used by Macomb County officials as the basis for denying access to the detailed technical report from the Pro V&V analysis. Source: same FOIA record set.
October 6, 2021 email from Michael Grix. October 7, 2021 response from unnamed ES&S employee. September 23, 2025 FOIA response issued by Peter Jensen of Macomb County to FOIA request made by Patrick Colbeck pertaining to “detailed technical report” pertaining to Pro V&V analysis.