|
|
|
Philadelphians casting provisional ballots could be disenfranchised, 2008 data indicates
Hundreds of Philly voters are being forced to cast provisional ballots that may not be counted.
Philadelphians casting provisional ballots could be disenfranchised, 2008 data indicates
Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir @isaiah_thompson @samanthamelamed
Hundreds and perhaps thousands of voters across Philadelphia, both newly registered and veteran, have not been found on the voter rolls and are being forced to cast provisional ballots that may not be counted.
Precincts are going through far more provisional ballots than anyone can remember ever being needed in the past.
Out of 20,284 provisional ballots cast statewide during the 2008 general election, 10,334 were ultimately rejected, according to data provided by the Pennsylvania Secretary of State that did not include data from Philadelphia and two other counties.
Provisional ballots are not counted until days after the election, at which point county election officials check each ballot and decide whether it is valid. Some who were forced to cast provisional ballots had their voter registrations in hand.
The City Commissioners, three elected officers who run city elections, have downplayed a problem (telling WHYY's Holly Otterbein it's “nothing like the rumors we’ve been hearing”) that election workers across the city are complaining about--and that sent the Obama campaign to court. This afternoon, Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe rejected a request from Organizing for America, the grass roots arm of the Democratic National Committee, to order the Commissioners to deliver extra provisional ballots.
Election watchdogs Committee of Seventy also "urged the court to order the city to provide more provisional ballots to any polling place that needed them - since voting could go on in some places for hours. (The polls close at 8 p.m., but all voters in line at 8 p.m. are permitted to vote.)"
Election workers across the city say they have never seen anything like this.
Judge of Elections Christine Abbot in Ward 27, Division 3 (near The University of Pennsylvania campus) said that more than 100 voters, largely students, cast provisional ballots people because they did not show up in the polling books.
"I personally worry that [the ballots] will get tossed," Abbot told City Paper, blaming the mess on the ouster of controversial Commission Chair Marge Tartaglione. "I think it might be related to the fact that Marge Tartaglione was scooted out of there...The new commissioner, Stephanie Singer, is a very nice person but innocent to the reality of the city."
18-year old Penn student Afrah Mohammad was forced to cast a provisional ballot. "I should have been registered," she says." Mohammad and other students all registered through their dorm's front desk. "I know there were a couple of other people who registered at the front desk and had that problem."
A source close to the Obama campaign says that over 200 provisional ballots had been reported at University of Pennsylvania polling places and over 400 at Temple University.
100 provision ballots were used in the 20th ward, 9th division and over 50 provisional in the 20th ward, 9th divison -- near Temple, but some of the voters are non-students and previous voters, according to the election judge.
At the 66 Ward, 46th Division in the city's Northeast section, election judge Heather Kelly said that as many as 20 voters whom she knew well from previous elections showed up to find that their names were no longer in the book. Kelly called the City Commissioners and was told that provisional ballots would not be counted. In some cases, Kelly discovered, these voters were registered at old addresses - 10 years old in one case.
Committee of Seventy says that at least one polling place ran out of provisional ballots. Normally, polling places are given 75.
Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez reported similar problems in the city's 43rd ward. Additionally, she says 6 divisions were moved without notice to voters. Quinones-Sanchez says volunteers for her office were out until 11 last night informing voters themselves of the change.
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
