So I am playing with the ward by ward vote counts, which I will post a little later today.
But it looks like turnout among registered Democrats was 37.4%.
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So I am playing with the ward by ward vote counts, which I will post a little later today.
But it looks like turnout among registered Democrats was 37.4%.
Comments (16)
I don't understand why it's so hard to get more people to vote. I love the process of walking to my polling place and participating in community event. Maybe they should make the polling places more like a carnival, with bands, refreshments and whatnot.
Posted by Anonymous | May 16, 2007 3:50 PM
Yet another reason why Election Day should be a state and federal holiday...
Posted by Anonymous | May 16, 2007 3:53 PM
I still think primary and general election days should be holidays. If we want more participation, we need to make these days priorities in our national/community conscienceness.
Posted by Anonymous | May 16, 2007 3:57 PM
I can't understand why it's so hard to get people to inform themselves (actually, I can, but wanted to keep that wording from the original post).
I think that people are motivated to vote when they inform themselves and find a candidate that they consider superior to the rest -- or one that they can't stand to see win, if that candidate has a chance to win.
The secret to increasing turnout is finding a way to make it easier for people to inform themselves and become engaged in the process, not only during the election cycle, but also throughout the term of the elected official in question. If the official is doing a noticeably good job, people will be motivated to turn out to vote for or against that official.
There's also our culture. From what I hear, Americans are much less interested in discussion political issues than our counterparts in other developed nations (at least where Europe is concerned). If we can get more understanding and meaningful (emphasis on meaningful) discussion among voters, we'll have more engaged people who are more likely to vote.
Having said that, there's no silver bullet. We can no more provide a prescription for increasing voter turnout than we can provide a campaign plan guaranteed to get somebody elected to office.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 16, 2007 4:11 PM
P.S. I wouldn't mind a holiday on election day -- I wanted to take the day off myself, to volunteer, and wasn't able to due to my obligations.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 16, 2007 4:12 PM
1) Make the Absentee ballot process a bit easier. I don't know if you can't do this already, but allow a .PDF to be obtained on-line, to apply for one.
2) Change the voting day to a Saturday. The reason for Tuesday goes WAY back to pre-auto times I believe.
Posted by Philly Moderate | May 16, 2007 4:21 PM
Is this based off of what the City reports the registration is, or what it really is if you applied a national change of address search to the voter file?
The City claims that there are like 900,000 voters in Philly, but they only do a purge every few years, and it's a light purge. There are many people included in that count who do not live in the city any more -- some for a few years -- and if you perform a national change of address search to the voter file, you can cut the total registration down to about 700,000 if not less.
So my point is, that turnout may actually be significantly higher since the City claims there are many more registered voters living in the city than actually do.
Posted by thornhill | May 16, 2007 4:34 PM
Aren't people just being rational deciders? Given the time that it takes to get to the polling station, wait in line, spend 10 minutes reading all those questions, etc., I can see why an individual would not participate in the process. Since no mayoral election has ever been won by 1 vote, each individual could very well be making a better use of their time by doing a different, more rewarding activity.
That being said, I wouldn't change a minute of the time I poured in supporting Mr. Nutter over the past several weeks. Even though his margin of victory exceeded my individual "persuasion" tally, I found the process exhilarating, and I now have new hope for the future of this city.
Posted by Contrarian | May 16, 2007 4:58 PM
I have to wonder how much this number corresponds to those over 25 with at least some college education (not necessarily a degree, but something past high school). This seems to be the strongest indicator of turnout. And in Philly- we don't have very many people with this level of education. If we did- would the results be different (probally not).
Posted by Liz | May 16, 2007 5:58 PM
I agree that this number is overblown by bad Philadelphia record keeping. Most door to door workers I spoke with would second that.
Posted by Greg | May 16, 2007 7:22 PM
Maria Quinones Sanchez, a superbly qualified Latina candidate who will make a big difference in the 7th District...
Posted by Julie Roman | May 16, 2007 9:52 PM
I guess the city isn't going to get any credit for how quickly they were able to process election returns.
Posted by Fante | May 16, 2007 10:55 PM
Hello!
This is Tommy the Loan Shark & Jim Nixon. Tommy and I were very busy with final exams, so we had to basically put the breaks on things… We never endorsed a candidate (for what that is worth… haha), as it seemed very close to us right through the end.
For the record, we were never part of any campaign. We stand by that 100%.
And again, Mr. Keel’s obnoxious intrusion into our press conference was not why things slowed a bit. We really were very busy.
TO THE GOOD NEWS!!!!
We achieved our goal in keeping Knox out of City Hall (not that we take a large share of credit for that, we were just doing our part). As we have said all along, that was our one and ONLY goal. We congratulate Mr. Nutter, and feel he will make an excellent mayor. Good for you Mike!
If anybody needs to contact us, please e-mail us at: tommytheloanshark@yahoo.com
Mr. Nutter, if you need campaign assistance I’d be happy to help out. My friend who played Tommy is taking a summer abroad (and yes, I am jealous). –Jim
Thanks, it was a great time!
Tommy the Loan Shark and his sidekick Jim Nixon
Posted by Tommy the Loan Shark & Jim Nixon | May 16, 2007 11:55 PM
We are especially happy that in Knox failing, we will not see Janie Blackwell, John Dougherty, Frank Keel, or Mr. Youngblood get any grip on City Hall! I guess loosing is what he gets for associating with the bottom of the barrel...
We are also thrilled that all that money could not buy City Hall!!!! I cannot imagine spending over $10,000,000.00 and countless hours for nothing...
Congratulations to Mr. Fattah, Mr. Brady, and Mr. Evans! You all ran very solid issue-based campaigns. Compared to the norm, it was very enjoyable and classy!
Posted by Tommy The Loan Shark & Jim Nixon | May 17, 2007 12:34 AM
B.S. Tommy. It was obvious you were a Brady tool. Who get "too busy" at the END of an election? Did the 98 guys scare you that much?
Disclaimer: I did not vote for Knox.
Posted by Anonymous | May 17, 2007 9:16 AM
Jimmy and Tommy,
I exposed your connection to Smukler and the Brady campaign on that fateful Friday at City Hall. Although you vowed to return the following week to continue your juvenile and useless harassment of Tom Knox, you vanished, just like the gutless dopes I knew you to be. Go away for good. And thanks for the memory. I will always savor the taste of grilled shark.
Posted by Frank Keel | May 17, 2007 9:53 AM