Pennsylvania Court Rules: Digital Images of Ballots are Public Records

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has made a significant decision, ruling that digital images of completed absentee and mail-in ballots are to be considered public records.

This ruling follows a case involving Michelle Previte, who sought electronic copies of these ballots from the 2020 General Election under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (RTKL).

Previte initially submitted RTKL requests to the Erie County Board of Elections, seeking access to digital images of all mail-in and absentee ballots, as well as images of the outer envelopes and polling place ballots from the November 2020 election.

The Board denied her request, arguing that these documents were not public records under Section 308 of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

After appealing to the Office of Open Records (OOR), Previte was granted access to the mail-in and absentee ballots but was denied access to polling place ballots.

The Erie County Board then took the matter to the Court of Common Pleas, which ruled in their favor.

However, on Wednesday, the Commonwealth Court overturned this decision, stating that digital images of absentee and mail-in ballots are indeed public records.

The court determined that these images fall under the purview of the RTKL, which mandates public access to government records unless explicitly exempted by law.

Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote the majority opinion, asserting that completed absentee and mail-in ballots are treated as public records once removed from ballot boxes or voting machines.

They can be obtained through an RTKL request as long as they adhere to the Election Code’s rules of disclosure and do not include any identifying information about the individuals who cast those ballots.

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Natalie Clawson, praised this ruling, stating, “Huge win for election integrity in Pennsylvania! Utah needs to follow Pennsylvania’s example and declare that the digital images of mail-in ballots are public record.”

She added, “Two things can be true: the Elections images must be auditable to restore trust AND the individual’s vote is must be kept secret. Utah.. let’s follow Pennsylvania’s lead. There is evidence that some precincts in Salt Lake Co had 117% voter turnout in 2020 for withheld voters. This is clearly a problem. The public and a third party needs to be able to audit our elections.”

Investigative reporter Behizy wrote on X, “What I love about this ruling is that it seems like the Appellate judges really took their time to understand the issue at hand. Section 308 of Pennsylvania’s election code says everything is public record “except the contents of ballot boxes and voting machines and records of assisted voters,”

“The lower court used some twisted logic to say the ballot images were somehow “contents of voting machines and, thus, were shielded from RTKL requests.” Yes, images of the ballots are taken by the machine but they’re not part of the machine. The pictures you take with your phone aren’t part of your phone, that’s nonsensical to think but these are the lengths some judges and election officials are willing to go to conceal the truth.”

Via Behizy:

What I love about this ruling is that it seems like the Appellate judges really took their time to understand the issue at hand

Section 308 of Pennsylvania's election code says everything is public record "except the contents of ballot boxes and voting machines and records of… pic.twitter.com/w6P4vgyjSK

— George (@BehizyTweets) August 1, 2024

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