Burns: Cambria County denies voting fiasco Right-to-Know requests
Refuses to reveal number of voting machines owned or ballots ordered Machine testing policy doesn’t exist; other records kept secret due to ‘noncriminal investigation’
Rep. Frank Burns February 13, 2025 | 3:13 PM
EBENSBURG, Feb. 13 – The Cambria County commissioners won’t reveal to state Rep. Frank Burns the number of voting machines the county owns or how many ballots it ordered and distributed for the Nov. 5 election, saying they don’t have to comply with anything posed as a question in the legislator’s Right-to-Know Law request.
Burns, D-Cambria, said there’s not a question mark to be found in his RTKL request, and evasiveness on providing such simple answers only bolsters the belief the commissioners are burying accountability for the Election Day fiasco — where voting machines couldn’t scan ballots countywide, throwing the electoral process into unprecedented turmoil.
Burns asked for, “the number of voting machines used in Cambria County in the Nov. 5, 2024, election,” and for “the number of blank ballots that were ordered from William Penn Printing Co. on Election Day of Nov. 5, 2024, and the number that were then successfully distributed to polling places on Election Day of Nov. 5, 2024.”
The county response justified its denials of the above by saying, “Under the RTKL, a request must seek records, rather than answer questions.”
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“It’s stunning – but not surprising – to receive such a jackass response from supposed public servants. Why would you not receive such basic information? Why do they make anyone go down this rabbit hole?” – State Rep. Frank Burns.
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“It’s stunning – but not surprising – to receive such a jackass response from supposed public servants,” Burns said. “Why would you not receive such basic information? Why do they make anyone go down this rabbit hole?
“Do they think it will be less work for the county if I ask for all records related to the purchase and maintenance of all voting machines, including their serial numbers and storage locations? And ask them for copies of all invoices and order forms from vendors that printed and supplied election ballots?”
The county’s denial of other prongs in Burns’ RTKL request unearthed what he believes are unsettling insights into county election operations, which the commissioners oversee as the county Election Board:
- His request for copies of policies, directives and results regarding the procedure for testing voting machines in Cambria County – including who performed and was present for any testing, how test results and passing grades were assessed and tabulated, and the number of voting machines that may have failed such testing – was denied because “the records requested do not exist.”
- His request for “any and all documents, correspondence (including, but not limited to, emails) or written explanation that determines, specifies or illuminates ‘the nature of the problem’ and why ‘the mistake was not able to be discovered until voting commenced,’ as attributed to (county solicitor Ronald) Repak's statement in the Altoona Mirror” – and his request for, “a tally of how many ballots cast in Cambria County were unable to be scanned on Election Day of Nov. 5, 2024, and a separate tally of how many ballots were able to be scanned successfully on Election Day of Nov. 5,2024” – were both denied on grounds that “the RTKL exempts from disclosure records of an agency ‘relating to a noncriminal investigation … that, if disclosed, would (r)eveal the institution, progress or result of an agency investigation.’”
Burns further said this part of the county denial points out that the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees county elections, has the power to “investigate the safety, security and integrity of voting machines,” implying the denial is tucked under that umbrella.
However, Burns said that Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt told him the department doesn’t have subpoena powers to do a thorough investigation and must rely on the honesty of county officials to provide details of what transpired.
Burns said he plans to appeal the county’s wholesale denial of his RTKL request to the state Office of Open Records.