Democracy Day 2022 is almost here. MuckRock is excited to be one of an ever-growing list of organizations taking part in the coordinated initiative on September 15, spearheaded by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. 

Launched to spread awareness associated with the ongoing threats to democracy, Democracy Day provides an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of public records laws as an accountability tool. We have a great primer on public records to help you get started but we wanted to dig up other examples and inspiration for local requests to support other newsrooms digging into these important issues.

We look forward to helping Democracy Day participants, by providing them with the ability to file requests related to their reporting free of charge. We're also planning on sharing the reporting that results from the effort with those who follow us on our social media platforms and via a roundup on our site. 

We believe in making sure as many people as possible are equipped to help keep an eye on the democratic process. We're excited to see what results from this and subsequent coordinated efforts to do so.

Text excerpted from writing by André Natta. Image via Garry Knight / Flickr.

▶ Upcoming FOIA Advisory Committee meetings. The National Archives and Records Administration's FOIA Advisory Committee has two public meetings coming up, one tomorrow (September 8) and the second next week (September 14). Tomorrow's meeting will welcome a new group of FOIA experts to the committee, transitioning from the 2020-2022 to 2022-2024 terms. Then, in next week's meeting, the new committee members will discuss their priorities for the coming two years.

▶ Statewide election in Massachusetts may mean limited changes to transparency. In yesterday's Democratic primary, incumbent Bill Galvin defeated challenger Tanisha Sullivan for Secretary of the Commonwealth, a position that administers elections and oversees public records, among other duties. Dig Boston's Andrew Quemere explained how the race focused on sunshine laws, as Sullivan accused Galvin of failing to improve government transparency in the state.

• January 6 insurrection: This week, a district court in New Mexico removed Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from office because he had participated in the January 6 insurrection. Independent journalist Roger Parloff, who shared the ruling on DocumentCloud, noted that this is the first formal court finding to label the event an insurrection.
• Police surveillance: Fog Data Science, a company that buys and analyzes location data from smartphones, has built a search engine enabling police officers to easily go through that data. MuckRock user Chris Meller recently filed FOIA requests for 50 major police departments to learn how agencies are using the search engine.
• Denied license plates: Wondering what custom license plates were denied by Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles last year? A recently-completed records request from MuckRock user Jordan has you covered. Denied plates in 2021 include "TURDPRO," "EVILSOB," "GODDAMN," and many others.

For The Record was written by Betsy Ladyzhets and edited by André Natta.