Early voting in Philly gets off to rocky start | Morning Newsletter

With the early voting issues in Philly, President Donald Trump falsely weighing on what was happening in the city both on Twitter and at last night’s debate, and more Pennsylvania polls being released, there’s a lot going with the 2020 election right now. Read on for more about the first day of early voting in the city and details about voting in New Jersey — either by mail or in-person.

— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Technical issues left some voters frustrated and confused as they waited in line and weren’t able to cast their ballots when the city opened the first seven of its new satellite elections offices. In theory, voters should have been able to request, receive, fill out, and submit a mail ballot in one stop.

County elections officials throughout the state said that Pennsylvania’s voter database was down yesterday morning. The system was put in place in the early 2000s and officials have frequently complained that it goes down or slows under heavy traffic, my colleagues Sean Collins Walsh, Ellie Rushing, and Jonathan Lai report.

And, also yesterday, President Trump falsely weighed in on voting in Philly, wrongly claiming that poll watchers were being improperly blocked from observing voting.

After Upper Darby detectives viewed surveillance footage of a robbery of a convenience store on West Chester Pike in the fall of 2017, they suspected that the robber was a 21-year-old woman, Bryonna Mack. That’s despite the statement given by the person who called 911 about the robbery at his Sunoco A-Plus store, saying it was an unknown male with a handgun who took $700, my colleague William Bender reports.

Mack was a standout basketball player at Upper Darby High School whom the detectives were familiar with from previous criminal investigations. After placing Mack in a photo array with other women, the manager of the store changed his story, alleging that it was Mack who had robbed the store.

Mack then spent 10 months in the Delaware County prison after she was arrested. She’s now suing an Upper Darby detective, the store manager, and more for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. She says the man who ended up reporting her had previously harassed her for being gay and it’s clear from surveillance footage that her tattoos don’t match with the suspect in the video.

I’ve been sharing a lot of fall colors lately ... but not everything is turning shades of orange just yet. Thanks for posting, @justjo1002.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout-out!

“Imagine the queue of autocrats, oligarchs, and crooks — from Russia to Turkey to Saudi Arabia and beyond — who are already salivating to secretly rescue Trump in a second term, in return for the favors he can dispense.” — writes columnist Trudy Rubin about the potential national security ramifications of Trump’s tax returns.

Philadelphia graphic artist Jeff Jones and former Germantown Academy basketball coach Jim Fenerty seemingly have little in common. But they were brought together by the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera (PV) that they both have. Jones is the artist and Fenerty is the subject of a drawing in a campaign focused on raising awareness of a group of blood disorders and educating people about symptoms and treatments.