DA's office expecting a "busy" day for reports of election fraud

According to a high level official at the District Attorney's office, which responds to reports of election fraud in Philadelphia, staffers are preparing for a potentially high number of complaints during tomorrow's primary.

"It's just going to be one of those days where we're getting a lot of calls," said Peter Berson, assistant district attorney and head of the office's election complaint unit, who noted a high number of competitive races.

According to Berson, competitive, low-level political races tend to inspire the most underhandedness at polling places, like the string of contested state legislative seats up for a vote this year. These races are often decided by hundreds of votes and typically receive less public scrutiny than higher profile battles for citywide seats or spots in Congress.

That means the distortion of even a few dozen votes can have a major impact and it's less likely that anyone would take notice of irregularities.

A wide range of activities can qualify as election fraud or voter intimidation. In the past, the city has fielded complaints over minor violations like the distribution of illegal campaign literature or political activity taking place inside a polling station, as well as more serious incidents involving alleged threats of physical violence or tampering with voting machines.

And every year has its unique anomalies. Berson said last year, which saw few seriously contested races and generally low turnout, he could recall one arrest being made when a write-in candidate for judge of election took the term a little too literally and tried to scrawl her name in marker on the inside of a voting booth.

The unusual number of ward and committeeperson challenges this year could be an additional source of tension at polling places. Berson said he grew up as the son of a ward leader, and that ward and committeepeople battles often feature neighbor competing against neighbor, rallying supporters in a few block radius of their own homes. The compact nature of such campaigning can lead to more interpersonal disputes.

But he added that his office was prepared for any issues that could arise tomorrow.

"We are being vigilant. We don't want any problems, but if they're out there, we're prepared for them," he said. "We usually have a group of 60 to 70 [assistant district attorneys] that are assigned to election day complaint duty."

Berson said that according to state law police are not supposed to enter voting areas on election day, and urged concerned voters in Philadelphia to contact the District Attorney's election complaint hotline at 215-686-9641.