Voting turnout plummets after polling place moved from Kensington bar to other, non-bar location

“Just about every corner bar at one time had a polling place,” says Steven Suarez, speaking mostly about Fishtown, where he’s lived all of his 49 years and served as committeeman of the 31st Ward’s 15th Division for nearly 15 years. Now, he thinks there’s none left; his division’s former polling place, Luke’s Bar, was one of the last. And he says turnout numbers dropped drastically after the polls were moved to a new location.

Few old-school bars were built to the high levels of handicap-accessibility that current laws require of polling places, and in 2006 most (nearly 150) of the ones left were moved to more accessible locations. Luke’s Bar was one of the last to survive as a polling place; about three years ago the two steps up to get in were ruled to be not, and the polling place was moved to 2424 Studios, a shiny, loft-style, extremely accessible office building and event space three blocks away at York and Cedar.

But the attempt at making voting more accessible in a division with a lot of elderly voters backfired, say the workers now set up at 2424.

“The numbers don’t lie. You look back the last three years and you see things have really changed,” says Suarez.

“We have declined so bad since it’s been here,” says Terri Burns, gesturing at the no-steps entrance to the building, as much a representation of the style of the recent wave of newly minted Fishtowners as Luke’s is a representation of the older generation of residents. Burns is judge of elections for the 15th Division, and owner of Luke’s Bar for “31 years — but it was my husband’s 45 years.” (Her husband, who passed away in 2008, was the eponymous Luke.)

Luke’s hosted a polling place twice a year for around a quarter-century, says Burns. “Those heavy old machines used to really tear up our floors — not like these current ones,” she says. “We got all bent out of shape one year because we had brand new floors and said ‘We don’t want it no more!’ Just for the one year, though — just until we calmed down.” She laughs. “My husband was the one who was really bent out of shape about it.”

Why the decline in turnout since the move? “The elderly doesn’t want to cross York Street,” Burns says matter-of-factly. York has two lanes of traffic, impatient four-way-stop traffic and cobblestones, plus is a double-wide 50 feet across. (Crossing it in heels was a bit of a task for this able-bodied, quasi-youthful reporter.)

On top of that, “this isn’t even our division — it ends on that side of York Street,” Burns says, gesturing at the opposite side of the street. “I have no clue in the world how they chose [2424 Studios]. We used to do close to 200 [voters] — even though we have close to 580 people [registered in the division.] This last time, we had 49. I don’t know what we’re up to today.”

Judy Spross, a 30-year veteran poll worker who’s lived across the street from Luke’s for decades, chimes in: “It’s 53.”

 “These two people that just left, one’s in a wheelchair, the other one’s older — they didn’t know where they were voting,” continues Spross. “If I didn’t see them and say something to the one lady — “Are you voting today? It’s right here!” — she wouldn’t have known. She ain’t been out to vote in two years. It’s sad.”

“Because the elderly, they live to vote, know what I mean?” says Burns.

“The bar was convenient for everyone,” agrees Spross. “They said ‘You don’t got a good enough ramp.’ Really? It was good enough, and we really had nobody in wheelchairs. They were old! But we helped them in and out.”

“All the neighbors used to bring us all kinds of food,” says Burns. “Anybody who came in got donuts, coffee, soup — always had soup.”

“It was minestrone in the winter, chicken noodle in the summer,” says Spross, a bit wistfully.

“This place we got now, we can’t even plug in a coffeepot,” says Burns.

“The last presidential election was at Luke’s, and we had a couple hundred people. Ever since then, it’s just been dropping off, dropping off, dropping off,” says Suarez. “A lot of people are set in their ways, and the neighborhood is changing a lot, and I think that’s one reason [for the decline in voter turnout] …  People don’t like change — they’ve been going to Luke’s year after year after year, and then times change and it’s hard for some people to accept that.” 

“Would they return if you put it back at Luke’s? I’m sure some numbers would increase, but you’d lose other people,” says Suarez. “It’s a rock and a hard place.”