It is Time to Start Voting in the 21st Century!

Hon. Margaret Tartaglione, Philadelphia Commissioner
Hon. Joseph Duda, Philadelphia City Commissioner
Hon. Edgar Howard, Philadelphia City Commissioner
Mr. Zachary Stalberg, President and CEO, Committee of Seventy
Mr. Marc Stier, Outreach Director, Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks
Hon. Robert Brady, Chairman, Philadelphia Democratic City Committee
Hon. Vito Canuso, Chairman, Philadelphia Republican City Committee

With the 2005 Municipal races right around the corner and very important elections coming up in 2006, it is time to make a clean sweep through the offices of City Hall and the cubicles at Delaware and Spring Garden. In this day and age, with elected and high-ranking government officials being indicted left and right, the most logical place to start cleaning up this City is at the polls. It is here that our elected officials are chosen to represent this great republic. It is here where men and women, of all races and creeds, come every spring and fall to do their civic duty. It is here that all the corruption and mismanagement begins. From the lawyer in Mount Airy that was not able to get their poll watcher certificate that they submitted to Delaware and Spring Garden, to the college student in Mayfair who either wasn't able to get her absentee ballot or her application was never processed, to the elderly grandmother in Mantua who is not able to vote because her polling place is in a vacant funeral home with approximately 20 step leading to the front door, to the numerous groups of energetic progressives in University City that aren't able to get accurate street lists or election boards so that they can work, through the candidate of their choice, to make their city a better place to live and work and finally, to the hard working Philadelphians in Pennsport, Point Breeze, Port Richmond, and Parkwood that want honest and fair elections to coincide with honest and fair governments. In the last election, both sides of the aisle pulled out all the punches to get their candidates elected. Moveon.org, ACT and ACORN were in almost every division, meeting all walks of life and registering them, in the oddest of places: vacant lots, boarded up houses, workplaces, so that they or their surrogate could vote on election day. The Republican Party isn't exempt either; they had teams of people all over the city, in neighborhoods like West Oak Lane, West Kensington and West Philly, where there usually isn't a Republican presence. This was more of a wake up call than anything.
Lawyers, from both the DNC and RNC, landed in Philadelphia and were greeted by the Cradle of Liberty in all its gleaming 21st century majestic in the forms of Liberty One and Two, the Kimmel Center, and even the new terminal at the Philadelphia International Airport. However, such awe and amazement was short lived. As much as one polishes a rotten apple, the fruit on the inside does not taste so sweet. When these groups descended on the various neighborhoods, they found a city in which elections were still stuck in the 19th century. They had visions of Tammany Hall, not Independence Hall.
Elections in this city are very old-fashioned. It is nearly impossible to receive all the poll watchers certificates for which you applied. It s nearly impossible to find a polling places that meets even early 20th century standards, such as running water, handicap accessibility and the right not vote in bars and Democratic Headquarters. It is nearly impossible get accurate, up-to-date data from the City Commissioners office.
Now is the time to make a concerted bi/tri-partisan effort to search and identify sufficient polling places within an election division and if none is available, to look beyond that division so that citizens can cast their ballots in clean, voter friendly environments. Now is the time to establish a computer program that will expedite the processing of watcher certificates, while at the same time turning a blind eye to partisan politics. Now is the time to temporarily shut down the City Commissioners office, so that they can take the time to load all pertinent information onto a computer database so that regular men and women can have the kind of access to public records that now only the politicians and their friends enjoy.
We are calling on all City Commissioners to reform their offices for the betterment of the populous. We are calling on the Committee of Seventy to begin this new era by breathing a breath of fresh air into this stale political environment. We are calling on the leaders of both parties to reach out to their members to make them aware that their priorities are aligned with the Nation, as a whole, to incorporate the Help America Vote Act into mainstream election referendums. We are calling on the Neighborhood Networks to stay true to their mission and to connect with their neighbors to make the voice of the majority heard. It is time for the neighborhoods of Philadelphia to leave the past behind and chart a new path to future.