Because the majority of records maintained by the Clerk’s Office are already public records and easily accessible either through the Public Search Site or at the public computers in the Clerk’s Office, there is no need to resort to New York State’s Freedom of Information (“FOIL”), codified as the Public Officers Law, Article 6, §§84-90, to obtain copies of particular documents.
You may visit our Record Request page to request copies of records by clicking here.
You may choose to submit your request pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Law. If you do, your request for records must be in writing and can be emailed, faxed or mailed to the attention of the FOIL Officer for the Erie County Clerk’s Office.
Please click here to view a directory of the County's departmental FOIL Officers. If you are requesting documents from a department that does not maintain those records, you will be notified, as such, in writing.
NOTE, each independent office within Erie County Government (Board of Elections, County Executive, Comptroller, District Attorney, Legislature, and Sheriff), administers their own separate FOIL processes with both an internal FOIL Officer and FOIL Appeals Officer. Please contact those offices independently for details on how to submit a FOIL request or to appeal a FOIL decision.
Additionally, in accordance with the Public Officers Law § 89(3)(b), Erie County also affords you the opportunity to submit records access requests by email by completing the relevant portions of the electronic form below and directing it to the Erie County department or office that is a custodian of the requested records.
When making a request, Please describe in detail the records that you are seeking and include your phone number and mailing address so our office can contact you with any questions. If possible, you should include the name of the document requested, date of filing, name(s) of persons affected, file designations, or any other information that will help to find requested records. Information regarding specific types of records, and how to request the majority of public records maintained in the Clerk’s Office without making a FOIL request, may be found here.
In addition, please include a self-addressed postage paid return envelope.
Please note that the Erie County Clerk’s Office is an independently elected office within County government and as such, administers its own FOIL request and appeals process, independent of the current administration's process.
If neither a response to a request nor an acknowledgement of receipt of a request is given, a request may be considered to have been constructively denied. Therefore, the denial may be appealed in accordance with §89(4)(a) of the Public Officers Law.
If you would like to appeal a decision, please complete the form below. Your completed form can be mailed or delivered in person to: ECCO FOIL Appeals Officer, 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202.
FOIL Request Form (for Erie County Clerk's Office only)