Mayor Parker, city commissioners reassure Philly voters their rights will be protected amid fears of federal monitors
“Right now, we’ve heard from our constituents a lot of anxiety about what’s going on in our elections,” said Omar Sabir, a Democrat who is the chair of city commisioners.
As Philadelphia’s three commissioners gave Mayor Cherelle L. Parker a tour of the city’s Election Warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia Thursday, they showed off the machinery and people who process and count ballots.
But along with the explanations of how efficiently ballots are extracted from mail envelopes, the commissioners — a bipartisan board of elected officials responsible for running all elections and voter registration in Philadelphia — took time to address fears that have arisen since the U.S. Justice Department announced plans on Oct. 22 to send monitors to voting places in the city.
“Right now, we’ve heard from our constituents a lot of anxiety about what’s going on in our elections,” said Chair Omar Sabir, a Democrat. “They’re requesting to us that we don’t allow the DOJ monitors to affect the election.”
Vice Chair Lisa Deeley, also a Democrat, said that the city is up to the task. “We are prepared to protect your sacred right to vote,” she said. “Any voter intimidation won’t be tolerated.”
Along with Philadelphia, the DOJ is planning to send monitors to Allegheny, Luzerne, and Lehigh Counties for the Nov. 3 general election.
The counties represent the biggest population centers in the state and, in Luzerne and Lehigh’s case, two of its biggest bellwethers where control of Congress could be decided.
The monitors will follow all state and local rules, James Catania, the DOJ attorney assigned to supervise the monitors in the region, wrote in a letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt.
Catania added that monitors would comply with federal voting laws, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Our monitors only observe and take notes,” Catania wrote. “They do not intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process.”
In a statement to The Inquirer Thursday, Larry Hailsham, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said that the party “is building an unprecedented voter protection program. This program will be ready to help every Pennsylvania voter make sure their vote is counted across the Commonwealth, not just in this cycle, but for years to come.”
The program will include the deployment of thousands of attorneys in every county in the state on Election Day.
As Parker toured the 229,000-square-foot Election Warehouse, the mayor said voters should understand that “dedicated election workers will make sure the election is safe, secure, and accessible.”
“Here in Philadelphia, we won’t ever forget our special place in history as the birthplace of American democracy,” she added. “We do feel a special responsibility to protect that promise of American democracy.”
As of Thursday, commissioners said, more than 129,000 mail ballots had been sent out and around 86,000 had been returned. They were stored in a fenced-in section of the warehouse.
“That’s like Fort Knox!” Parker said.
