Burns: Cambria County screwed up May 20 election ballots
Despite State Department notice, misprint not corrected
Rep. Frank Burns May 8, 2025 | 4:08 PM
EBENSBURG, May 8 – Shocked beyond belief, state Rep. Frank Burns received a phone call from Pennsylvania Department of State Secretary Al Schmidt this morning, informing him that that Cambria County had misprinted its ballots for the upcoming May 20 primary election – despite assurances from county officials that stringent corrective measures were put in place after the Nov. 5 election ballot scanning fiasco that paralyzed voting across the county.
Burns, D-Cambria, said he was told the order of judicial race candidates presented on the May ballots was incorrect, that the State Department in an oversight role flagged the problem a month ago, and that the county ignored that notice and plowed ahead with the misprinted ballots, which have already been mailed to voters.
“I'm flabbergasted,” Burns said. “There is no excuse for this type of incompetence. The county commissioners need to take action. They can no longer hide from the failures of the election mishaps on their watch.”
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“I'm flabbergasted. There is no excuse for this type of incompetence.” – State Rep. Frank Burns
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Burns said the May ballot was sent to the State Department for review, which is not required but was done as a precaution due to the November voting snafu that effectively shut down voting across Cambria County.
“The State Department quickly realized a printing mistake and notified the county Election Board to make the correction,” Burns said. “However, the county ignored this notification and printed ballots without making the required change. Then to make matters worse they sent the misprinted ballots to voters.
“While this printing mistake is apparently not as serious as the one that prevented all paper ballots from being scanned in November, the presence of any printing mistake at all should have everyone in Cambria County shaking their heads in disgust. Such repeat incompetence diminishes voter confidence in the election process – and provides more fodder for those who believe it borders on corruption.”
Burns said the continuation of Cambria County election-related errors proves the need for the legislature to pass his proposed bill that would require and standardize pre-election voting machine testing in Pennsylvania. It would also strengthen State Department oversight of elections, something Burns believes is sorely needed.
Burns added that another Cambria County election-related problem occurred in February, when prospective Johnstown City Council candidates were given improperly sized photocopied nominating petitions that were not considered valid.