Pennsylvania court grants public access to voting data in dispute from 2020 election's aftermath

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's high court ruled Tuesday that spreadsheets of raw data associated with every ballot are public records, providing access to the “cast vote records” that had been requested by an election researcher hired by the Trump Administration last year.

The Democratic-majority Supreme Court said its unanimous decision was a way to “satisfy the voting public that our elections are safe, secure and accurate" while preserving the state constitution's requirement that votes remain secret.

The Lycoming County elections director in Williamsport had denied Heather Honey's request for digital copies from the 2020 presidential election, saying that would amount to letting her review the contents of a ballot box, one vote at a time. Cast vote records are created when a voter's choices are made electronically or scanned.

Pennsylvania election law provides wide public access to county election records, except for the contents of ballot boxes and voting machines and records of assisted voters. Lycoming Voter Services had argued its scanners and tabulators constitute voting machines and the cast vote records are the contents of ballot boxes.

As Honey did not live and vote in Lycoming County, she was succeeded in the litigation by three Williamsport area residents — a local businessman, a retired state trooper and Republican state Rep. Joe Hamm.

Their lawyer, Thomas Breth, said the data will allow people to review what happened in the hotly contested 2020 election.

“In short, it's not solely about the past,” Breth said. “It's about the future. This significantly improves election integrity moving forward in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Lycoming elections chief Forrest Lehman said Tuesday he does not believe the records, which contain randomized data, will reveal any secret ballot information and that he is ready to provide the records upon request.

“The court made its decision, and anybody who wants it can have at it,” Lehman said.

The Supreme Court ruled that the cast vote records “are spreadsheets of raw data pulled from the cast ballots. They are not the physical ballots contained in the ballot box.” Therefore, they are public records, the justices concluded: “This interpretation does not destroy the secrecy of the vote any more than a tally of all votes from a specific election.”

The high court said it was only ruling in the Lycoming County matter and said it was possible that other counties do not sufficiently randomize the data. “Whether the Election Code requires disclosure of CVRs that clearly link the contents of a ballot with personally identifying data is not before us," wrote Justice Daniel McCaffery.

Breth dismissed that possibility, saying the state's current election equipment standards require safeguards to protect voter identity.

FILE - A polling judge, right, helps guide a voter's ballot into a voting machine during the Pennsylvania primary election, at Mont Alto United Methodist Church in Alto, Pa., on May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

An Afghanistan women's refugee team has been granted eligibility for international competitions, some five years after national team players fled their country's Taliban rule.

The FIFA Council, meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, agreed on Tuesday to amend its regulations to recognize the refugee team, which plays under the name Afghan Women United.

While it is too late for the refugee team to try to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, it could participate in qualification for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“We are proud of the beautiful journey initiated by Afghan Women United, and with this initiative we aim to enable them, as well as other FIFA member associations that may not be able to register a national or representative team for a FIFA competition, to make the next step, in coordination with the relevant confederation,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

The first move toward recognition came last October, when the Afghan refugees played in a tournament that included Chad, Libya and Tunisia in Morocco. That event followed years of lobbying on the team's behalf by players, former captain and activist Khalida Popal and human rights groups.

There are more than 80 Afghan refugee players scattered across Australia, the United States and Europe. Two camps were recently held for the women, one in England and another in Australia.

The team, coached by Pauline Hamill, is expected to play a pair of exhibitions during the upcoming June international window against opponents to be determined.

The Afghan women’s team played its last competitive match in 2018. The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group, shut down all women's sports when it returned to power in 2021. The players fled Afghanistan, fearing persecution.

Even before the demise of the team, the Afghan soccer federation was under investigation for misconduct involving the women’s program, including allegations of rape and physical abuse. Keramuddin Keram, the federation president, was banned for life by FIFA.

Discrimination is not allowed under FIFA regulations, but the Afghan federation hasn’t been suspended from international soccer despite failing to acknowledge the women’s team.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Members of Afghan Women United soccer team celebrate after scoring a goal against Chad, in their first international tournament since fleeing their country, in Casablanca, Morocco, on Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)