Burns wants State Department to investigate Cambria election snafu
‘Embarrassing debacle’ warrants public hearing, external probe
Rep. Frank Burns December 17, 2024 | 10:39 AM
EBENSBURG, Dec. 17 – Seeking accountability for the “embarrassing debacle” with voting in Cambria County on Nov. 5, state Rep. Frank Burns wants the Pennsylvania Department of State to independently investigate the widespread and confusing systemic failures.
Burns, D-Cambria, made his plea in a written request to Al Schmidt, secretary of the Commonwealth, who oversees the department responsible for ensuring the integrity of the electoral process in the Commonwealth.
“I urge you to conduct a public hearing – and to use the full investigative powers of your office – to determine what went wrong in Cambria County, who was responsible and how we can ensure it never happens again,” Burns wrote the high-ranking state official.
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“The people of Cambria County deserve honest answers as to how this snafu occurred and who is culpable – which I firmly believe won’t be forthcoming from within Cambria County, given the insular and self-protecting nature of the existing local political structure.” – State Rep. Frank Burns
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Burns continued, “The people of Cambria County deserve honest answers as to how this snafu occurred and who is culpable – which I firmly believe won’t be forthcoming from within Cambria County, given the insular and self-protecting nature of the existing local political structure. Its established modus operandi is best described as ‘the fox guarding the henhouse’ and ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,’ while praying, fingers crossed, for a carpet big enough to sweep this under.”
Burns recapped for Schmidt an Election Day saga of long lines and mass confusion, a judge extending voting by two hours, printed ballots that could not be scanned, and a mad dash by sheriff’s deputies to Allegheny County to fetch and distribute freshly printed ballots – followed by the post-election swearing-in of a gaggle of volunteers who duplicated ballots by hand so they could be counted, in a process that took several days to provide final results.
Urging Schmidt to “provide the sorely needed independent assessment of what went wrong,” Burns pledged that, “If legislative action is required, I stand ready to introduce those bills without hesitation in the House of Representatives, so we never have a repeat that puts Cambria County and Pennsylvania in the national news for the wrong reason.”