Kensington election craziness raises doubts about Philly's weird poll-watcher rules

During Tuesday's primary, various candidates in Kensington alleged that their opponents were bribing voters, campaigning inside polling places, and, in one instance, distributing anonymous fliers that claimed one candidate was gay — and those were just the complaints made to a reporter over a few hours time.

An assistant district attorney showed up at Stetson Middle School in Kensington to respond to reports that campaign workers were accompanying voters into voting booths. After observing a raucous scene that involved dozens of different political supporters in colorful campaign T-shirts, his walkie-talkie crackled and he departed — there had been another report of electioneering at the Bayard Taylor School, on the other side of the neighborhood.

In theory, there are poll watchers who can respond to such Election Day complaints. Each candidate is entitled to a certain number of poll-watcher certificates, issued by the City Commissioners office, entitling that person to enter and observe activity at any polling place.

But according to Pennsylvania's election codes, all poll watchers must be affiliated with a specific party or candidate. That means non-partisan entities — like reporters and the government watchdog Committee of Seventy — are legally barred from directly monitoring elections.

Ellen Kaplan, vice president of the Committee of Seventy, says her group has been lobbying to change the law for years. Currently, that group's Election Day volunteers are only allowed to stand near the front of polling places.

"It's one of the many ways that Pennsylvania's election laws are less than ideal," Kaplan says. She pointed to one instance in which a delegation of Russian election monitors were given special permission by the city to monitor the last presidential election.

"So, there were people from the Russian embassy who could go into polling places," Kaplan says. "But if we wrote a letter saying, 'We would like to have our non-partisan volunteers go in,' that is not acceptable."

The lack of support in Harrisburg for changing the election code is puzzling, given Republican support for controversial voter ID regulations.

"If you're really concerned with fraud, why not have non-partisan poll watchers?"asked Kaplan. Efforts to introduce other basic reforms, such as online voter registration, have also languished in the capital.

"There are a lot provisions in state law that really put the burden on the opposing parties and candidates to keep our elections fair," says Commissioner Singer. "A lot of [the state election code] seems to rest on the idea that as long as you have eyes from different sides on the process, that's the way we roll in Pennsylvania."

But that system can create unfair advantages for incumbents, which often rely on party support and can drum up more volunteers for Election Day. Singer said that the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania supports changing the law to allow non-partisan observers.

Meanwhile, the District Attorney's office volunteer election-day lawyers often are overtaxed: 60 to 70 legal volunteers, according to the office, cover more than 1,600 electoral divisions.

CORRECTION: Commissioner Singer wrote the City Paper to clarify that the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has not, in fact, taken a position on allowing non-partisan groups to appoint poll watchers. The CCAP supports an alternative system, where voters would petition the court system to appoint election "overseers" that are not chosen by political parties or candidates.