Luzerne County will provide access to 2022 election video surveillance footage

Luzerne County won’t appeal a court ruling requiring public access to video surveillance footage from the November 2022 general election, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said Thursday.

The Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania had filed an open records request in November 2022 to view footage of county buildings where ballots were processed and voting equipment was maintained. The 2022 general election drew intense scrutiny for paper shortages at polling places that forced the court to extend voting from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. to help compensate.

County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lesa S. Gelb had upheld the Citizens Advisory’s request for access to the footage in September 2023, affirming a final determination by the Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records that the county had appealed.

The county appealed to Commonwealth Court, which issued an opinion last month affirming the county court decision.

Commonwealth Court cited a procedural flaw made by the county and said its ruling did not focus on the “substantive merits” of the county’s argument that access should be denied for building security and criminal investigatory reasons.

The county waived its argument of a building security exception because it had failed to “preserve” that issue in a required filing related to the case, the Commonwealth Court opinion said.

“The County’s procedural missteps bar any merits decision,” the opinion said.

However, it noted the county did not prove redacted records “implicated the personal security exception” and did not “establish a conflict with” the state’s Right-To-Know Law.

Citizens Advisory representative Scott Walton sent the county an email Thursday asking if the county intended to further appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and, if not, when the requested footage will be made available for inspection.

Crocamo said she is working with security staff to blur faces so the identity of election workers won’t be compromised.

She said the county will soon reach out to Citizens Advisory in response to its Thursday communication.

In her September 2023 ruling, Gelb had ordered the county to make any necessary redactions to protect the identities of employees within 30 days, which would involve blurring faces.

Citizens Advisory President Ben Herring has repeatedly emphasized he is not interested in seeing the faces of workers. He has said he requested viewing of the footage amid concerns about the election paper shortage and wanted to see if anything appeared 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, he has said.