Billions Spent On Campaign and GOTV, While System Is Overwhelmed And Racist
Predominately poor black district gets 2 machines, 5 workers, and long lines.
Nearby wealthy white district has 6 machines, surplus workers, and no line.
Charlie and I set out at 6:50 am today for our local polling station, less than a 5 minute walk away, Courtyard Apartments at Riverview. I think it was or still is a part of a larger public housing project run by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
On arrival, there was a line of 15 people outside the building. The line was a mixed demographic: by mostly older voters.
The doors opened promptly at 7 am, but it immediately became obvious that the operation was overwhelmed.
The supervisor walked through the line and asked the crowd if anyone wanted to work at the polling station. She soon was in a loud phone conversation with her managers, desperately demanding that they send her more staff.
It took over 10 minutes for the first voter to leave.
As I entered the room, I noticed that there were just 2 voting machines.
The pace picked up somewhat and I was out by 7:35, not too bad and much quicker than I feared.
But in that half hour, the line had grown considerably, I’d guess at least 50 – 75 people long. The demographic seemed to have shifted as well, to almost exclusively black people.
After voting, we headed for the usual dog run over at Old Swedes Historic Site, the oldest Church in Pennsylvania and the oldest building in Philadelphia.
The route there takes us by Shot Tower, another lovely Philadelphia historic landmark.
There is a polling station at Shot Tower Recreation Area.
As we strolled by on Carpenter Street, I could not help noticing glaring contrasts with my voting experience at Courtyard Apartments at Riverview.
All upscale white people. No lines. Several poll workers standing outside with nothing to do.
I asked voters and poll workers how many voting machines were inside. Reply: 6.
I asked to speak with a supervisor. A young woman with a clip board emerged and I informed her of the staff shortage at Riverview and the lack of voting machines (just 2). I asker her to contact superiors and reallocate resources.
Later, after about a half hour of fetch with Charlie at Old Swedes, we returned home past the Shot Tower polling station. I spoke with the same young woman and she said that they had sent several workers over to Riverside, and that they were now fully staffed.
But they still have just 2 voting machines and I assume the lines are even longer.
I thought the Democrats – who run Philadelphia and Pennsylvania State government – wanted to maximize turnout, particularly in black districts. Long lines obviously reduce turnout.
So why was the resource allocation to polling places so inequitable and inefficient? (and more like a Republican district in Georgia).
They spend billions on campaign ads and GOTV, but the actual polling places are totally swamped.