Election Protection Coalition Fields Over 1,000 Calls Reporting Scattered Problems Throughout Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- (10:30 p.m. Update)
-- As polls closed across Pennsylvania this evening, the Election
Protection Coalition reported receiving over 1,000 calls to the Voter
Protection Hotline throughout the day. The Coalition entered more reports
into its election reporting database than in any previous state primary,
including primaries earlier this year in California, New York and other
populous states.
Nationally renowned Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
together with an extensive coalition of partners throughout Pennsylvania,
including Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, responded to voting
problems throughout the state through a comprehensive voter protection
program. Nearly 1,000 nonpartisan citizen and legal volunteers monitored
polling places throughout Pennsylvania. Approximately 800 volunteers worked
in Philadelphia. Voters reported issues by way of the coalition hotline
(1-866-OUR-VOTE) and through hundreds of field volunteers throughout the
state.
"Our coalition worked since the polls opened this morning to ensure the
integrity of the vote in Pennsylvania, and to be sure the process is
conducted fairly," said John E. McKeever, Esquire, a partner at law firm
DLA Piper, who serves on the Boards of Directors of both the Lawyers'
Committee and the Committee of Seventy. "Pooling our respective resources
and strengths for this crucial primary helped to ensure that all eligible
citizens have an equal opportunity to exercise the most fundamental of all
rights -- the right to vote."
Jonah Goldman, director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections of
the Lawyers' Committee's Voting Rights Project, said, "In this historic
primary season, voters across the country have turned out in droves to
exercise their fundamental right to vote. Today Pennsylvanians followed
suit. Unfortunately, the heartening story of record turnout is tempered by
the real problems voters face as they try to cast a ballot. Poorly trained
poll workers, problems with voting machines and inaccurate voter
registration rolls caused countless eligible voters to be needlessly
refused the right to vote."
The high turnout exposed many of the fundamental problems that plague
the election administration system throughout the state, together with
allegations of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement merit further
investigation. One of the most troubling issues today was a barrage of
reports from voters who have been registered as Democrats for years, but
were listed as unaffiliated and so had to vote provisionally. When this
problem surfaced earlier in the day, the Coalition took action by alerting
the county Boards of Election to the issue and releasing a statement to the
media advising voters who encounter this problem to vote provisionally. It
is unclear at this time how widespread this problem was.
The most frequently reported problems throughout the day included
general polling place issues such as poll workers giving incorrect
information, rule violations and poor administration regarding polling
locations (250+ calls); registration issues (200); equipment malfunction at
the polls (150) and voter intimidation (80+). Some sample reports include:
-- At one location, the head poll worker asked for a voter's registration
card, and yelled out to everyone else the voter's name, that the voter
was a Democrat, the voter's address and that the machine was not set up
for a Democrat. The voter felt very disrespected and that this was an
invasion of her privacy; she does not want to go back to vote again
because of this worker's behavior.
-- One man was told that he could not vote at his polling place because he
was a Republican.
-- In Delaware County, one voter reported that the voting machines at her
precinct were set for Republicans only. She told the poll worker that
she was a Democrat and the worker replied, "Not today." The voter was
not able to cast a vote, but The League of Women Voters provided her
with the phone number of the Delaware County Board of Elections to
report and resolve the issue.
-- A voter reported that, at one location, building materials were being
thrown off the roof of the polling place to prevent voters from
entering.
-- One caller reported a polling location with only three voting machines
and no printers working. Voters were leaving without being offered
emergency ballots.
-- A voter took her child with her to vote, but the poll worker wouldn't
let the child into the voting area with her. When the child's mother
asked why, the poll worker claimed that it was because her child "can
read."
According to the Commonwealth's Department of State, there are
8,320,083 registered voters in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, which has
just over one million voters, the City Commissioners' Office reports that
nearly 114,000 individuals registered to vote between October 27, 2007 and
March 24, 2008, the last date to register before the primary. The rise in
the City's voter registrations is attributed to the intensity of the
national Democratic primary and several local contests. Seventy has already
announced plans for unprecedented oversight of high-profile and contentious
primary races within the City's First Senatorial District and the 179th and
184th House Districts.
The Election Protection coalition is the nation's largest nonpartisan
voter protection. Pennsylvania partners include The Lawyer's Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law; the Committee of Seventy; Common Cause; People for
the American Way Foundation; Avencia; Congresso de Latino Unidos; Dechert
LLP; DLA Piper; Drexel University; Greater Philadelphia Cares; KPMG
International; League of Women Voters of Philadelphia; Morgan, Lewis &
Bocklus; Philadelphia AFL-CIO; Special People in N.E.; Temple University;
University of Pennsylvania Law School; The Daily News and White & Williams
LLP.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of
President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal
services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the
Lawyers' Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice
under law, particularly in the areas of housing, community development,
employment, voting, education and environmental justice. For more
information about the LCCRUL, visit
http://www.lawyerscommittee.org.http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-22-2008/0004798236&EDATE=