Court affirms group’s access to Luzerne County election video footage

A Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge upheld the Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania’s request for access to video surveillance footage of official county buildings where ballots were processed and voting equipment was maintained around the time of the November 2022 general election.

County Judge Lesa S. Gelb’s Sept. 14 order affirmed a final determination by the Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records that the county had appealed.

Gelb ordered the county to make any necessary redactions to protect the identities of employees within 30 days, which would involve blurring faces. Within 30 days thereafter, Citizens Advisory vice president Ben Herring must arrange inspection of the records subject to access provisions under state law, it said.

Herring repeatedly emphasized Monday he is not interested in seeing the faces of workers.

He said he requested a viewing of the footage amid concerns about the November 2022 general election paper shortage. Herring said he wants to see if anything appears amiss, stressing he would report anything suspicious to law enforcement.

Based on his understanding, the footage would cover the county-owned voter warehouse and Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said Monday the administration is reviewing appeal options to possibly challenge the county court ruling.

County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce released a report in June concluding the county’s failure to procure sufficient quantities of the correct paper for voting machines last fall was “not a deliberate act, but rather a catastrophic oversight.”

The DA’s Office found no evidence of criminal intent or activity. Ultimately, the investigation revealed that the director, deputy director, operations manager, election technicians and administration all “play a role in ensuring sufficient amounts of ballot paper are stocked in the machines prior to Election Day.”

Herring said there should be no problem with him independently checking the footage captured from Sept. 1 to Nov. 16.

“We want to rule out that nothing happened,” he said.

He described the state Office of Open Records decision and county court ruling as a “monumental win for the citizens of Luzerne County.”

“When a constitutionally protected process as important as voting goes awry, it’s imperative that those affected get a chance to see what truly occurred,” Herring said.

During the county court appeal, the county argued that revealing video of the location of the voting machines in the buildings would disclose infrastructure of the buildings of county government, which could be a safety and security concern for the buildings and machines themselves.

Gelb’s ruling said the county “has not offered more than speculation or conjecture to show a reasonable likelihood of endangering the safety or physical security of the buildings.” It also said the building layout is “by and large open to the public.”