Election Day Update from the Committee of Seventy Update, 6:40 PM: The Polls Close in 80 Minutes

What Should Voters Do If They're Still Standing in Line at 8 O'Clock? The polls close at 8 p.m. - just under 80 minutes from now. By law, any voter who is standing in line at 8 PM is entitled to vote, no matter how long the line to vote may be. Any voter standing in line who is told he or she cannot vote after 8 o'clock - provided they were already standing in line - should call the Elections Court and Seventy's legal representative there, Brian McCormick, at 215-687-7965. Less than 90 minutes to go now, and Seventy is committed to ensuring that every eligible voter who's at their polling place gets to exercise their franchise. Seventy is operating an unprecedented Election Day program today, with 800 volunteers working in the city and throughout the superbs. We have dozens of volunteers answering calls all day, and now into the evening, on the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Hotline. If you're a member of the news media and you have any additional questions, you can call Joe Grace at Seventy at 215-964-7093. We'll answer your questions, and make available Zack Stalberg, President and CEO, or Ellen Mattleman Kaplan, Vice President and Policy Director.

Election Day Update from the Committee of Seventy

Update, 6 PM: Problems with Voting in Philadelphia Seventy Reports Voters in Phila Absent From Poll Books; Forced to Cast Provisional Ballots National Organization Goes To Court; Asks for More Provisional Ballots; Court Rejects Motion

Not Present in the Poll Books - What Does a Registered Voter Do? The issue of registered voters coming to the polls in Philadelphia today - only to find their names were not listed in the poll books was raised in a court proceeding in Philadelphia Elections Court late today. A short time ago, Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe turned down a request from Organizing for America, a grass roots arm of the Democratic National Committee, which asked the court to order the City Commissioners to distribute additional provisional paper ballots to polling places throughout the city. Seventy 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.) Many newly registered voters and even some experienced voters including some with registration cards were not listed in registration binders or supplemental books. (Or the supplemental books were ignored). These voters are angry that they were asked to vote provisionally. Throughout today, Seventy's volunteers staffing its Election Hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) and polling places throughout the city have been fielding calls from a multitude of voters who tell similar stories: They registered to vote, received voter registration cards, went to vote today - only to learn their names were not in the poll books. As a result, they were required to vote by provisional paper ballot. Jessica Milone, a student at Drexel University, who went to vote
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today at the Stirling House in Center City (8th Ward), was one such story and she described her experience: "I registered the week before the deadline to register," Jessica said. "I had my voter registration card. I went to vote today, and my name wasn't in the poll books. So I had to vote by paper ballot. It wasn't my preference, and I don't know why my name wasn't listed." Seventy fielded numerous calls from voters with experiences similar to Jessica's. That led Seventy to support the motion for an order to have more provisional ballots supplied to city poll places. "We believe it's better to be safe than sorry and we want to ensure that every registered voter who goes to the polls has the opportunity to vote today," said Ellen Mattleman Kaplan, Vice President and Policy Director at Seventy. Voter ID: A Problem Perhaps The Further Away You Go From Philadelphia Throughout the day, Seventy's Election Day Program of 800 volunteers in the city and four suburban counties have also been monitoring developments concerning the voter ID issue. Voters were not required to show voter ID today, though they were asked about it by elections workers as a trial run. While Seventy volunteers did not field many calls concerning voter ID problems in Philadelphia or the surrounding suburban counties, a close monitoring of news reports and other information from across Pennsylvania reveals that voter ID was in fact an issue today, particularly the further away you moved from the Philadelphia region. An Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge issued an order earlier today, enjoining elections officials in Homestead
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Borough in southwest PA from asking or requiring voters to show voter ID before allowing them to vote. Scattered reports continued to come in throughout the day of this same practice - enjoined by a Pennsylvania appeals court ruling in September - in other, outlying PA counties. Voters were reportedly asked or required to show voter ID in a number of outlying counties before being allowed to vote. The voter ID issue is clearly an issue that's not going away, and Seventy and the PA Voter ID Coalition will stay closely involved in the issue after this election. Seventy's Election Day Program featuring 800 volunteers in 5 Philadelphia city and suburban counties has received an unprecedented volume of calls throughout the day. Our top priority is assisting voters. We're fielding every news media call as soon as we can. Thanks for bearing with us!Election Day

Updates from the Committee of Seventy Update, 12 Noon - Problems with Voter Registration - and Now, Voting - Continue in Philadelphia
Troubles with Registration - and Now, with Voting Seventy's Election Day volunteers are fielding a lot of calls from voters reporting problems with voting based on their voter registrations not being present in the poll books when they arrived at their polling place to vote this morning. These calls are coming in from Philadelphia. Seventy has numerous reports on its Election Day Program Hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) from voters in multiple divisions where their names are not listed in the poll books. For any voters whose registrations were processed after October 23rd,
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their registrations were supposed to go into a Supplemental Poll Book, and an issue seems to be whether all these new, lateprocessed registrations made it to the polling place on time for Election Day. Seventy has brought these numerous reports of voters complaining they're not listed in the poll books to the City Commissioners. The voters are voting by provisional ballot. Seventy is also hearing of some polling places where judges are declining to allow voters to vote provisionally, and has alerted the Commissioners about this related issue as well. We'll keep you updated about this important, emerging problem throughout the day. A Polling Place Down in North Philadelphia A polling place is reported down in the 28th Ward, at the Richard Wright School at 2728 Dauphin Street. Both voting machines have been down for at least two hours, according to our Seventy volunteers in the field. Voters are being told to vote provisional ballot, but some voters are just walking away - at least 30 voters, according to our volunteers at the polling place. The judge of elections has called city elections officials to come deal with the problem. Several voters have confirmed this problem to Seventy, which has notified the Commissioners. Electioneering Inside the Polls in Conshohocken - Which You Cannot Do The mayor of Conshohocken is reportedly inside a polling place in Conshohocken in Montgomery County - without a watcher's certificate. Seventy has gotten numerous callls from voters about this electioneering inside the polls - which is against the state elections code. Seventy volunteers are on their way to the location now to look into it.
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Baby's It's Cold Outside Seventy has a report of a polling place in the 21st Ward in Roxborough where the heat has shut down in the polling place. With temperatures dropping into the 30s today, the poll workers and voters alike are suffering from some frigid conditions. Some poll workers want to shut the polling place down until the problem gets fixed. The location is at Cinnaminson Street and Ridge Avenue. Elections officials are searching for space heaters. The location is a city firehouse. If A Voter Has A Problem, Call the Election Hotline at 1866-687-8683 (866-OUR-VOTE) We have more than 40 volunteers on the phones at every moment. We're taking in an enormous volume of calls from voters in the city and throughout the Delaware Valley, an intensity of calls and interest that Seventy President and CEO Zack Stalberg said is "unprecedented" in the seven years of Stalberg's tenure. We'll be delivering you updates all day long as we hear them from our army of 800 volunteers here at Seventy, working in Philadelphia and throughout the Delaware Valley to help voters on Election Day, 2012.

Election Day Update from the Committee of Seventy

Update, 9:45 AM. New Black Panthers, Nowhere in Sight Seventy dispatched volunteers to the Philadelphia polling place at 11th St. and Germantown Avenue this morning, where reports surfaced earlier today that the New Black Panthers were back in Philly and at this polling place.
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Neither Seventy's volunteers, nor City officials who visited the polling precinct and checked in with Seventy, saw any signs of the New Black Panthers. We'll keep you posted, but as of now, no hard evidence that this report is true.

Election Day Update from the Committee of Seventy

First update, 9:25 AM - "Problems at the Polls" "It's looking like a messy election." That was Zack Stalberg, President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, yesterday. Stalberg's comment looks accurate - already. Here's what's happening out there already, according to Seventy's volunteers on the phones and at the polls. * Election Court is dealing with a host of minority (Republican) inspectors being denied access to their polling places in Philadelphia. * The New Black Panthers are back. They're reportedly at the polling place at 11th and Germantown Streets. * There are "You need a photo ID to vote" signs at a number of polling places. Seventy has asked the City Commissioners to have Judges of Elections take those signs down immediately. We're also hearing that judges of election at at least two other polling places have been telling voters they need a photo ID to vote. You don't need a photo ID to vote today in Pennsylvania, though elections officials are supposed to ask you if you have
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one. * A polling place at 7th and Cayoga Streets - in the city's Latino area - has numerous voters who do not speak English - and reportedly no interpreter in sight. We'll be delivering you updates all day long as we hear them from our army of 800 volunteers here at Seventy, working in Philadelphia and throughout the Delaware Valley to help voters on Election Day, 2012.

Eight Penn Center 1628 JFK Boulevard Suite 1002 Philadelphia, PA 19103 p. 215-557-3600 f. 215-557-3608 www.seventy.org