Former Armstrong County elections director sues for discrimination, alleges election security issues

A former Armstrong County elections director filed a federal lawsuit against the county and one of its contractors, alleging discrimination and security concerns with the county’s voting system.

Marybeth Kuznik of Penn Township, Westmoreland County, was fired in 2021 shortly after she requested a new scan of ballots after the 2021 primary in Brady’s Bend, where 18 ballots initially were missing, according to her lawsuit filed Nov. 21.

It is unclear whether the issue was resolved, but the Pennsylvania Department of State certified Armstrong County’s 2020 and 2021 election results.

Kuznik’s attorney, Max Roesch of the Lindsay Law Firm in Butler, claims Kuznik was discriminated against because of her whistleblower activities alerting Armstrong County officials of potential security problems in the elections department.

Many of the lawsuit’s allegations are directed at an independent contractor, Jeffrey Jessell, who helped program and operate the county’s electronic voting system.

Jessell could not be reached for comment despite multiple messages left for him at county offices. A phone number for him was no longer in service.

Messages left for Francis Wymard, an attorney with William J. Ferren and Associates of Pittsburgh, representing Armstrong County, and county Administrator Aaron Poole were not returned.

Kuznik claims Jessell bullied her, spread lies and ultimately caused her firing, according to the lawsuit.

Kuznik is now elections director in Fayette County.

According to the lawsuit, Jessell entered and extracted data from the county’s voting machines alone. The lawsuit claims pass codes for the election’s computer system were left out near Jessell’s computer terminal. The lawsuit also claims Jessell requested to work on some portions of the voting system at home.

Voting system information should not be accessed via the internet for safety reasons, according to the lawsuit.

The Pennsylvania Department of State declined to comment on whether the allegations were matters of best practices or violations of election regulations. Roesch said Kuznik communicated with the Department of State regarding typical election matters and other issues.

While working in the elections department, Kuznik reported security concerns to other county officials that were “ignored or denigrated,” Roesch said.

“Marybeth had good faith concerns about the potential for fraud, waste or malfeasance, which is out of the Whistle Blower Act,” Roesch said. “She had these concerns, communicated them to proper authorities, and the result was that she was run out of town.”

Following the 2021 primary, Kuznik recruited a bipartisan group of Armstrong County voters to conduct the statutorily required audit of 2% of the votes.

The audit turned up 18 missing votes in the Brady’s Bend precinct, for which Jessell uploaded in-person and mail-in and absentee ballots, according to the suit.

Kuznik requested a re-scan of the ballots to find the problem. She was fired shortly thereafter.

Roesch said, in working on Kuznik’s lawsuit, he has not seen evidence of breaches of Armstrong County’s voting system.

“The way the system was set up from Marybeth’s perspective was problematic in terms of security and transparency,” Roesch said.

Understaffing of the elections department was concerning as well, he said.

“Marybeth was trying to do several jobs at once, which raises security concerns if something slips through the cracks,” he said.

Kuznik started as director of Armstrong’s elections and voter registration department on Aug. 31, 2020. Previously, she had 25 years of service as a judge and inspector of elections in Westmoreland County and was a former president of VotePA, a nonpartisan state group that examines voting systems and election administration.

Kuznik was fired in June 2021 for what the county said was poor job performance. The county presented her with 19 allegations. Her lawsuit contends those stemmed mostly from “unfounded and false accusations” from Jessell.

“Many of the allegations misrepresented or falsely interpreted sections of the Pennsylvania Election Code regarding matters that Ms. Kuznik had correctly completed under the law,” according to the lawsuit.