'Cure for conspiracy': Teaneck man sues Bergen County for election accuracy information
A Teaneck resident is suing Bergen County election officials after a public records request for ballot test decks and logic and accuracy tests for all equipment used in the 2022 general election was denied.
Yehuda Miller, who is being represented by the Saddle Brook-based Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann and Knopf law firm, filed the lawsuit this week in state Superior Court in Bergen County.
"Transparency is the cure for conspiracy," Miller said. "While I believe our elections should be conducted Amish style, paper ballots with hand count, if we are going to use electronic equipment it should be as transparent as possible."
The lawsuit lists the Bergen County Board of Elections, Superintendents of Elections Debra Francica and Jamie Sheehan-Willis, Chairman and Commissioner of the Board of Elections Richard Miller, secretary of the Board of Elections Denise Ross, Commissioners of the Board of Elections Margaret Frontera, Jamie Lagana, Angela Malagiere and John Schettino, and Bergen County Clerk John Hogan.
"All defendants have been named because, upon information and belief, they may have records responsive to plaintiff’s OPRA [Open Public Records Act] request," the lawsuit said.
Miller filed an open public records request in February for access to copies of all ballot test decks used to conduct logic and accuracy tests for all equipment related to Election Day, early voting and mail-in voting for the 2022 general election, which he believed should be available through the common law right of access.
The request was denied on March 1 because “ballot test decks are exempt from disclosure pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A:1.1 as technical information regarding computer hardware, software and networks which, if disclosed, would jeopardize computer security for future elections,” according to the lawsuit.
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The lawsuit argues that the OPRA request was valid and the information records are public and not subject to any privilege or exception. "The test decks are public records because they are created and received by public officials," the lawsuit said.
"One of my concerns are some of the procedures of the logic and accuracy” tests being conducted here in Bergen County and beyond," Miller said. "As citizens, we need to be more engaged with government processes. I am providing you with five specific concerns that may be the subject of future litigation here in Bergen County.”
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Last month Miller filed a similar lawsuit in Atlantic County looking for logic and accuracy test report results and all associated reports from all logic and accuracy tests on all equipment for early voting, same-day voting and mail-in tabulators, including the ballot test deck used during the logic and accuracy tests and system log files for the 2021 general election for the New Jersey's governor's race.
The lawsuit was filed against the Atlantic County Board of Elections and other election officials.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Teaneck man suing Bergen County over election equipment accuracy tests
