Burns: Cambria unearths relevant voting Right-to-Know document
‘My office discovered a document that, to the best of my knowledge, the former director of the Cambria County Bureau of Elections did not realize existed.’
Rep. Frank Burns April 2, 2025 | 9:40 AM
EBENSBURG, April 2 – In its response to state Rep. Frank Burns’ appeal of Cambria County’s denials of his Right-to-Know Law requests related to widespread Nov. 5, 2024 voting system failures, the county included a recently unearthed document that it previously and apparently did not know existed.
According to the county response seeking dismissal of Burns’ appeal to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, the relevant document was discovered by Nicole Burkhardt, who was appointed as interim director of the county’s Bureau of Elections on Nov. 25, 2024 before being named director on Feb. 10.
According to an attestation from Burkhardt, “With the assistance of ES&S, the manufacturer of the voting machines used in the November 5, 2024, election, my office discovered a document that, to the best of my knowledge, the former Director of the Cambria County Bureau of Elections did not realize existed, namely, a Certification of Logic and Accuracy Testing verifying that Cambria County, PA completed pre-election logic and accuracy testing for all of its electronic voting system components on September 23, 2024.”
“It’s an important, telling and seemingly required document to file, so why wouldn’t the Department of State, the county commissioners – who also serve as the Elections Board – and/or the county solicitor know of its importance and existence? If a newly appointed Elections Bureau director can find it, why couldn’t all those seasoned elections professionals?” – State Rep. Frank Burns
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Informed of the existence and discovery of this document, which was relevant to his rejected Right-to-Know request, Burns, D-Cambria, said the attestation from Burkhardt only adds fuel to his inquisitive fire about the Election Day debacle that plagued Cambria County.
“I was flabbergasted to read the heading on this document: ‘COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, CERTIFICATION OF LOGIC AND ACCURACY TESTING,’” Burns said. “One would assume that this completed form had to be turned into the Department of State – which was the county’s hands-on, working partner in investigating what went wrong on Election Day.
“It’s an important, telling and seemingly required document to file, so why wouldn’t the Department of State, the county commissioners – who also serve as the Elections Board – and/or the county solicitor know of its importance and existence?” Burns said. “If a newly appointed Elections Bureau director can find it, why couldn’t all those seasoned elections professionals?”
Burns also said it is ironic that the unearthed document shows that 125 precinct scanners and 125 Ballot Marking Devices to be deployed on Election Day were tested – which would have answered his request for, “The number of voting machines used in Cambria County in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.” The county refused to provide that number, saying that under the RTK Law, it didn’t have to respond to anything posed as a question.
The Certification of Logic and Accuracy Testing, signed by chief clerk Maryann Dillon and dated Sept. 28, 2024, states that, “During the test process, a predetermined test deck was prepared, and ballots were marked and tabulated. The results reported by the voting system matched the expected results, and the testing included all equipment to be used for the election, including backup devices.”
It also includes “Yes” answers to all items in this checklist:
Test Deck
- The test deck included absentee, mail-in, Election Day, and provisional ballots (ballot sets) for each precinct (ballot styles).
- The test deck included ballots produced on all vendor and county BOD printers and BMDs.
Notice
- The county board timely notified the chair of each recognized political party.
- The county board provided at least 48 hours' notice to the public.
Ballot-Marking Devices (BMDs) and Backup BMDs
- Each BMD was tested to ensure functionality for each feature.
- Printed ballots matched candidate selections on screen.
- Ballots created by BMD were included in the test deck to enable testing of precinct scanners.
- Hybrid BMDs accurately tabulated results.
Precinct Scanners and Backup Scanners
- Test deck was scanned into each precinct scanner that will be deployed.
- Ballots were accepted and rejected appropriately.
- Ballots produced the expected results.
Central Count Scanners and Backup Scanners
- Test deck was scanned into each Central Count Scanner that will be used.
- Ballots were accepted and rejected appropriately.
- Ballots produced the expected results.
“This new revelation that sheds light on the exactitude of pre-election testing makes what happened on Election Day in Cambria County even harder to digest,” Burns said, noting that curative legislation is forthcoming.