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VENANGO ELECTION BOARD FIGHTS POLITICIANS' OPPOSITION
TO FORENSIC EXAM OF VOTING MACHINES
Petitions County Court to Allow Substitution of Solicitor in Wake of Conflicts
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June 30, 2011 -- Venango County Election Board Chairman Craig Adams filed petition documents today in the Venango County Court of Common Pleas, requesting a substitute attorney to serve as solicitor for the Election Board because of conflicts with the official County Solicitor representing both the Election Board and the County Commissioners. Ongoing efforts by the Venango County Election Board to proceed with a forensic examination of its paperless iVotronic touchscreen voting system are facing opposition from a faction of the County Commissioners, who under Pennsylvania law are currently removed from serving on the Election Board and involvement in election administration because they are running as candidates for re-election this year. |
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Despite the Commissioners' current position as candidates for public office, Commissioner Chairman Timothy Brooks allegedly led efforts to become involved in election matters, in an apparent attempt to delay or stop the forensic examination of the county's voting system ordered by the Election Board. On June 3, two of the County Commissioners issued a directive regarding keys and access to the room where the county's voting machines and related equipment have been quarantined by the Election Board since May 26. In addition, there have been multiple delays apparently involving the Commissioners' attempts to weaken contract language that would permit the county to protect and indemnify two computer experts who will conduct the exam. The computer experts are donating their services pro bono to the county. According to the petition filed in court, at a meeting in the Courthouse Annex on or about June 6, Commissioner Brooks was "literally screaming at Adams about matters relating to the election board and told Adams that he (Brooks) did not want a forensic audit conducted." Local website VenangoPolitics.com described the scene as a "tirade in the commissioner's office when Brooks, red-faced and frantic, actually screamed at Craig Adams, election board chairman, blurting out, "I don't want a forensic audit done!"" |
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The conflict between the Election Board and the commissioner/candidates resulted in a June 17 memo to Election Board Chairman Craig Adams from County Solicitor Richard W. Winkler. In his memo, Attorney Winkler flatly refused to follow the Election Board's June 13th directive for an injunction to be filed to prevent County Commissioners from involvement in election-related business. In the memo Winkler states, "It is obvious, but as County Solicitor, I also represent the County Commissioners." After additional attempts to resolve the problems, Election Board Chair Adams filed the petition in Venango County Court in hopes of obtaining an unconflicted solicitor so that the forensic exam and other election board matters can proceed. Today, Judge Robert L. Boyer issued an Order of Court setting a hearing on the matter for next Tuesday, July 5, at 10 A.M. (UPDATE July 1: Hearing has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 12, at 10 A.M.) Local news media... Shedding Light on the Issues or Adding Confusion? On June 14 the area's local newspaper The Derrick published an article discussing the Election Board's intention to obtain injunctive relief to "stop the County Commissioners from engaging in election-related duties." The same article went on to allege that the Election Board violated the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law because it advertised public meetings in news articles rather than by paying The Derrick (the county's local paper of general circulation) for an ad. Melissa Melewsky, a registered lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, was quoted as saying that "the board failed to meet Sunshine Law requirements because it didn't place paid legal notices for its meetings in a local newspaper." Earlier, The Derrick filed Right-To-Know requests demanding "all communications from election board members to election board staff, county administration, and county commissioners from Feb. 15, 2011 to present in any form, electronic, written or otherwise." Although Section 902(a)(4) of Pennsylvania's Right-To-Know Law requires an open records officer to determine if "a legal review is necessary to determine whether the record is a record subject to access under this act," and Section 708 exempts many items from public access such as personal information, personnel matters, predecisional deliberations of an agency, etc., according to the Petiton for Substition of Solicitor filed by the Election Board, within one day of The Derrick's first request approximately 1300 Election Board emails were released to The Derrick's reporter Shelia Boughner by Chief Clerk Denise Jones. Jones serves as the Venango County open records officer. On June 23 The Derrick published four articles critical of the Election Board and its emails, revealing the content of many of them including the names of several private citizens who had contacted the Election Board. One of the articles in the series again quoted newspaper association lobbyist Melissa Melewsky and further alleged violation of Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law, based on the paper's conclusion from the emails that Election Board meetings were somehow "scripted."
BACK TO VENANGO COUNTY STORIES HERE |
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