And a good time to start talking about the polls themselves, and guarding the fairness and welcoming nature of them.
Our partners at the Committee of 70 are going to put a corps of 500 - 500! - trained citizen and legal volunteers at the city's 1,681 polling places on Tuesday.
From the press release:
“We are expecting a wild ride next Tuesday,” said Zack Stalberg, Seventy’s President and CEO. “Seventy is getting ready for every contingency by building a network of citizens and organizations who are equipped to resolve problems either on-site at the polls or in court if necessary.” Stalberg noted that, although Seventy has “been in the business of helping voters” for over 100 years, this is the largest, most sophisticated and ambitious program in the organization’s history and in the nation.
That program includes:
* 74 field teams of two to three citizens, each responsible for about 25 polling places in one ward, to resolve minor disputes and assist voters, polling officials and poll watchers.
* 22 two-member legal teams to respond to more complicated issues that cannot be resolved on-site by the field teams.
* 11 Team Leaders experienced in Election Day operations to review complaints for assignment to field teams, legal teams or by local enforcement authorities (Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General).
* Three call-in and dispatch centers staffed by citizen volunteers who document complaints and refer them to the Team Leaders.
This election, more than any other recently, will be decided on the strength of which candidates get their loyal voters to the polls. (Dave Davies took at look today at what each candidate will do to ensure these voters vote, including who is paying for consultants and who is relying on volunteers.)
That lends itself to shenanigans. In fact, having an election in Philadelphia pretty much guarantees shenanigans - people who feel pressured to vote a certain way, people who feel harassed voting, and worse. On election day, we'll be listening to 70's volunteers to find out what they are experiencing, and we will bring it to you as it happens.
Comments (5)
What are the rules about campaigning near polling places? In particular, I am interested in signage (currently there are a candidate's signs on my polling place), handing out slips with certain names on them (ie, that person's "ticket".. this happened last November when I went to sink Santorum), and who do you call when you think something is amiss?
Posted by FTP | May 10, 2007 10:20 AM
I believe signs need to be at least 10 feet from the entrance for the polling place.
Posted by Anonymous | May 10, 2007 10:55 AM
Forget the rules - it is every man for himself
Posted by knox pays me | May 10, 2007 11:24 AM
Hmmm.. It seems that "knox pays me" is adopting the values that prevent this city from being great: do what you have to do to get ahead, screw the rest. Isn't that how your boy made his millions?
Posted by FTP | May 10, 2007 1:53 PM
Tommy for Mayor.
Jas....
Posted by Jasper Zeigler Jr | May 11, 2007 1:28 PM