In the matter of Fein v. Chester County, OOR Docket No.: AP 2023-2043 (Sept. 26, 2023), the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) considered an appeal from the denial by Chester County of a request to provide unredacted copies of absentee-ballot information and mail-in ballots, files, applications for ballots and envelopes available, consistent with the access provisions of the Election Code. The eight page decision of the OOR explains why the redactions were not justified by either the Election Code or the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law. See 65 P.S. §§ 67.101, et seq.
The County appealed the OOR decision, but there was an issue about whether they appealed within the deadline of “30-days of the mailing date.” On Feb. 15, 2024, there was a hearing in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on the issue of whether or not the appeal by the County was timely, and the court asked the parties to submit written legal arguments. (A judge from another county was tasked with hearing the case.)