HERE'S an odd postscript to last week's election: one voter complains that a poll worker made her place her hand on a Bible and swear to her identity before she could vote.
Lindsay Granger put up an Election Day blog post, saying, "I had to lay my palm on the good book and state my name and address before I was allowed to sign my name in the voting log and enter the booth. They called it an affirmation. I call it creepy . . . and a little offensive."
Voters can be required to sign an "affirmation" document if they are listed as inactive or there are questions about their address.
But they are not required to swear on a Bible or anything else.
"If anything, I should swear on a Constitution or something," Granger wrote on her blog. "Voting is a civic responsibility, not a religious one . . . and isn't there supposed to be separation of church and state?"
Granger did not respond to our e-mail about the incident at the 15th Ward's first division polls at Trinity Baptist Church, in Fairmount.
We confirmed Granger's story with Bob Lee, the City Commission's voter registration administrator, who said that Bibles have been included in polling-place supplies for decades. They are used to swear in polling-place workers before the polls open on Election Day.
We also spoke with Councilman Bill Greenlee, the 15th Ward leader, who was at the polling place that day, and with Madeline Mclaughlin, the judge of elections. They said they hadn't seen the incident, and attributed it to a new poll worker unsure of the proper procedures.
Lee said Granger hadn't complained to the City Commission. He heard about the incident from the election website BradBlog.com.
Granger also did not complain to the Committee of Seventy, an election-watchdog group, which received three complaints about Bibles at polling places in the city on Election Day, but none from the 15th Ward's first division.
The City Commission, Lee said, will update its poll-worker training to cover Bible issues.
"We will definitely instruct all of the poll officials at our classes before the May primary election," Lee said. "This is the first time I ever heard of them making a voter put their hand on a Bible before they fill out a form."
Dwight's big battle on Tuesday
We were on the phone with state Rep. Dwight Evans yesterday, but it sounded as if he had at least two or three other lines working at the same time as he sought to hold his post as the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Evans, who faces a leadership election challenge Tuesday from state Rep. Joe Markosek, of Allegheny County, says he's being targeted by state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, of Berks County, and state Rep. Bill DeWeese, a former Democratic majority leader from Greene County.
"It's all personal," Evans said. "It's vendettas. It's not on policy."
Evans, who needs 46 of 90 votes to prevail, predicts a victory.
"I've had the ability to cross the lines to get things done," he said. "That's not to say that everybody agrees with me. At the end of the day, I've been open and accountable. I've been transparent."
Caltagirone and DeWeese accuse Evans of pulling strings to cancel the final voting sessions of the legislative season in order to kill the creation of an independent fiscal office that would have oversight on appropriations money. Democratic leaders relented and set votes next week.
DeWeese yesterday recalled how Evans, who didn't back him in his primary election, asked him in January to not run for re-election. DeWeese, who faces trial on corruption charges from state Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation, still was re-elected last week.
"He looked me square in the eye and said, 'Bill, it's not personal. It's business,' " DeWeese said of Evans. "For him to infer, let alone declare, that my vote for Mr. Markosek would be a vendetta is way wide of the mark. It's not personal. It's just business."
Caltagirone said Evans told Democratic colleagues earlier this year that there were no funds for "walking around money" - state grants for projects in legislative districts - but now he's promising grants to secure a victory.
"I know Dwight's been calling around, offering everything under the sun," Caltagirone said.
And in other House fights . . .
The Philadelphia delegation in the state House is not exactly the Appropriations Committee. But only one legislator can be chairman. And two guys from Philly want the job.
State Rep. Jewell Williams, a likely candidate for sheriff next year, is running for another term as head of the delegation.
State Rep. Angel Cruz plans to challenge Williams next week.
Both men just won their sixth terms in the House. Cruz ran against Williams during their third terms for the chairmanship. Williams won that race and then won a second term.
"We owe that to one another, to respect one another, to give everyone a chance to represent the caucus," Cruz said yesterday.
Williams said it was strange to him that Cruz wants to lead the delegation, since he doesn't participate much during meetings.
Williams joked that both men are Virgos, which means that they can be nice and generous but are also known to turn "mean or snappy."
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