Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

If you had problems voting in November, the Nutter administration wants to hear your story

A task force appointed by Mayor Nutter wants to hear from you if you had problems casting your vote in the last presidential election.

If you had problems voting in November, the Nutter administration wants to hear your story

POSTED: Monday, January 28, 2013, 6:35 PM

Did you have problems voting during last year’s presidential election? If so, the Nutter administration wants to hear from you.

The city is investigating why higher-than-expected numbers of voters had to use provisional ballots Nov. 6.

If you want to tell you story, find out how here:

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA REQUESTS PUBLIC FEEDBACK ON ELECTION DAY VOTER EXPERIENCES

Philadelphia, January 28, 2013– Mayor Michael A. Nutter and Managing Director Richard Negrin announced an effort to hear about voters’ experiences on Election Day, November 6, 2012. The request for public feedback is part of the Mayor’s efforts to analyze what problems that occurred on Election Day and to make recommendations on improvements.

Mayor Nutter in early December appointed a six-member committee to review the November election: Managing Director Richard Negrin; Rev. Kevin Johnson of Bright Hope Baptist Church; Terry Gillen, the City’s Director of Federal Affairs; Hope Caldwell, Chief Deputy Integrity Officer; Jordan Schwartz, Deputy Chief of Staff; and Nicole Harrington, Office of the Inspector General.

Two public meetings are currently scheduled: February 6, 2013 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM in the Mayor’s Reception Room, 2nd floor of City Hall, and February 28, 2013 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM at Bright Hope Baptist Church, 1601 N. 12th Street.

“We’ve heard stories ranging from long-time voters not being found in the poll book to improperly filed provisional ballots. In most cases, though, these stories are anecdotes. We need to put names and faces on these problems,” said Mayor Nutter.

Negrin said there are claims that voter registration delays caused inaccuracies in poll books, which in turn resulted in the increased use of provisional ballots.

“Slightly more than 4% of Philadelphians voted by provisional ballot. Our initial research shows that this is a much higher number than the rest of the state,” Negrin continued. “We want to find out why it was higher and we need the public’s help to do that.”

Voters are encouraged to tell their stories or make recommendations by visiting the website www.phila.gov/election2012, and by calling or texting (267) 209-FACT. Voters need to include their contact information and voting location in case follow-up is needed.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Miriam Hill @ 6:35 PM Permalink | 4 comments

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Comments (4)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:10 AM, 01/30/2013

It's kind of late to be asking about feedback on the last election, and what you experienced at the polls. Since most of the problems were noted the day of, or day after the election, and noted in news coverage locally, and nationally!

— Dadair1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:23 AM, 01/30/2013

It's like the fox asking the hens how they felt about being eaten. I've been voting a long time and polling places have always been disorganized. This time was the worst that I have ever seen. It was obvious that something shady was going on and Nutter is just trying to make people think that something will be done about the "errors".

— Trident252