Absentee Ballots

In the 1960s, a Democratic ward leader took shoe boxes full of quarters to the polls in poor neighborhoods - "to pay off voters," a veteran election lawyer recalls. In 1993, a judge overturned a pivotal State Senate race because of hundreds of bogus absentee ballots. In last year's primary, dozens of polling places mysteriously recorded more votes in some races than the number of voters who'd signed in. All are examples of real or suspected vote fraud, Philadelphia-style.

Tomorrow at 5 p.m. is the deadline for absentee ballots for Tuesday's election at the County Board of Elections in West Chester. This does not mean postmarked by 5 p.m. It does not mean, "Gee, I got tied up in traffic and sorry I'm late. " Nor does it mean registering for an absentee ballot and then turning it in at your polling place. "It has to physically be here by 5 p.m. - no exceptions," said Linda Cummings, director of Chester County Voters Services. Cummings said that Tuesday was the last day a voter could apply for an absentee ballot, and that more than 9,000 county voters have applied.

In a close election, every vote counts. The problem is, sometimes the officials do not count every vote. Consider some of the voters in the First Ward in Burlington City who cast absentee ballots in the 1991 general election in Burlington County. Bertha Gray handed her ballot to an acquaintance to mail. Lillian Ware's daughter told her mother she would post her ballot. Nancy Tiesi asked a friend to mail her ballot. Angelina Frappolli, who cannot see well, requested help in filling out her ballot before mailing it. Not one of those counted.

Philadelphia's absentee ballots will be counted after all - but not till tomorrow. Lawyers for the Republican Party and city officials agreed yesterday to open and count some 12,000 absentee votes, ending a dispute that reached federal court but lost steam as it became clear that the ballots would not change the outcomes of any races. The agreement was signed by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. almost 24 hours after Philadelphia GOP leader Michael Meehan sued, contending that city officials had wrongly failed to provide the party with an advance copy of approved absentee voters.

State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson has apparently won the Democratic nomination to replace Anna C. Verna as City Councilman from the Second District, representing most of South and Southwest Philadelphia. Johnson held a slim but solid 46-vote lead Monday over his nearest rival, Barbara Capozzi, as city election officials completed counting the absentee and provisional ballots cast in the Second District in last week's primary election. Absentee ballots for the rest of the city are expected to be counted Tuesday, possibly resolving the other too-close-to-call primary race – the contest between Karen Brown and John Featherman for the Republican mayoral nomination.

Civics lessons like these, we'd rather not have. But since the dispute over absentee balloting for Philadelphia's Second District state Senate seat is raging, at least it's exposed a piece of the city's election apparatus that is ripe for abuse. Question is, what, if anything, can be done? In the tight Senate race, absentee ballots boosted the number of votes for Democrat William Stinson over Republican Bruce Marks. The dispute is whether the Stinson forces rounded up absentee ballots from voters who were ineligible to use them since they were able to get to the polls.

Today is Election Day, as was yesterday and the day before. Many Americans will vote well before Tuesday, and while the convenience of choosing your day to vote is appealing, convenience should not be the only rule by which we run our elections. In 2004, nearly 25 percent of Americans voted before Election Day, almost 15 percent by absentee ballot and an additional 8 percent at early voting polling places. In 1980, absentee ballots were cast by only 5 percent of voters, and early voting at polling places was nonexistent.

More than 250,000 New Jerseyans already have decided to vote early this year using "no excuse" absentee ballots. Voters can still apply in person until 3 p.m. Monday. In the past, voters had to give a reason, such as travel or illness, to vote via absentee ballot. Since 2005 in New Jersey, they no longer do. People "like the fact they can vote after work," Gloucester County Clerk James Hogan said. "They like voting on Saturdays" at the mall. Voters can get absentee-ballot applications at county stores in Camden and Gloucester Counties this weekend or from any county clerk's office on weekdays.

They are thousands of miles from their native South Africa. But they will be able to share in the historic election by casting a ballot here in Philadelphia. For the first time, black and mixed-race South Africans will be permitted to vote. On April 26, adults who can prove they were born in South Africa can vote at polling places across the world, said Wesley Johanneson, a spokesman for the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. South Africans will vote via write-in ballot for two elections.

A Superior Court judge's ruling that invalidated absentee ballots filed in Eastampton Township's June primary will not affect the county absentee-voting process, the Burlington County clerk said yesterday. "Nothing will change," said Edward Kelly, who in 1975 chose and implemented the computerized punch-card system after studying voting procedures in three other counties. "I don't think it will change the system whatsoever. " Superior Court Judge Martin L. Haines ruled Monday that 18 absentee ballots filed in the election were invalid, in part because the process under which they were filed had never been formally approved by the county Board of Freeholders.

In the 1960s, a Democratic ward leader took shoe boxes full of quarters to the polls in poor neighborhoods - "to pay off voters," a veteran election lawyer recalls. In 1993, a judge overturned a pivotal State Senate race because of hundreds of bogus absentee ballots. In last year's primary, dozens of polling places mysteriously recorded more votes in some races than the number of voters who'd signed in. All are examples of real or suspected vote fraud, Philadelphia-style.

State Rep. Babette Josephs, who has represented Center City's 182d District since 1985, conceded Tuesday's Democratic primary election to challenger Brian Sims in a statement issued Friday. "Throughout many difficult but successful races in my long service, I have consistently said that the voters are always right. I cannot change my tune now," Josephs said. "I am truly grateful to the voters for allowing me to serve them for so long and for the opportunity to work with so many dedicated, talented, patient, and professional colleagues, staff members, and volunteers.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida presidential primary is on, with voting well under way - even though Florida doesn't hold its GOP nominating contest until Jan. 31. And both Mitt Romney, coming off back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are aggressively reaching out to voters who have requested ballots. None of their competitors has been nearly as active even though the victor in Florida would get a huge boost of momentum and all of the state's 50 delegates to the national nominating convention.

THERE WILL BE no repeat of the nightmare for attorney David Oh, who was ahead in the voting on election night four years ago but lost a seat on City Council after absentee ballots were tallied. Oh yesterday officially bested Al Taubenberger in last week's general election for one of two Republican Council at-large seats, after absentee, military and provisional ballots were counted. In the final tally, Oh led by 166 votes. A count yesterday of 755 provisional ballots, used on Election Day when there are questions about a voter's registration, did not put Taubenberger ahead.

BY THE END of today, either David Oh or Al Taubenberger should have a new title: city councilman. The neck-and-neck race between the two Republicans for a Council-at-large seat was too close to call at the end of Election Day last Tuesday. A hand count yesterday of about 2,000 absentee, overseas and military ballots left Oh with a lead of 168 votes. Oh's lead stood at 165 votes earlier in the day when members of the City Commissioners Office began counting the absentee ballots.

David Oh seemed poised to clinch victory after a preliminary count of about 2,000 absentee ballots Monday in the race for the second at-large seat on Philadelphia's City Council. Oh's lead grew by three votes, to 168, after a Board of Elections official and lawyers for both sides tallied results from about 2,000 absentee ballots. Oh's rival for the seat, Al Taubenberger, said he wanted every vote counted. Monday's count is unofficial, and Board of Elections employees still must count 757 provisional ballots, which are generally used for voters whose names do not appear in log books at their polling places.

David Oh seemed poised to clinch victory after a preliminary count of about 2,000 absentee ballots Monday in the race for the second at-large seat on Philadephia's City Council. Oh's lead grew by three votes to 168 after a Board of Elections official and lawyers for both sides tallied results from about 2,000 absentee ballots. Oh's rival for the seat, Al Taubenberger, said he wants every vote counted. Monday's count is unofficial, and Board of Elections employees still must count 757 provisional ballots, which are generally used for voters whose names do not appear in log books at their polling places.

CITY Commission employees began sorting through ballots yesterday in the too-close-to-call election for a Republican City Council at-large seat. A final tally in the race between attorney David Oh and Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce chief Al Taubenberger won't come until at least next week. Oh held a 176-vote lead with 97.27 percent of the polling place ballots counted yesterday. Attention now turns to absentee, military, alternative and provisional ballots, along with 73 voting-machine cartridges that were not returned by the time the commission met yesterday morning.

The saying that all politics is local has taken on particular significance in the tiny Camden County borough of Chesilhurst. After Councilwoman Waltha Webb lost the June Democratic primary by just two votes, she and her political allies combed records and flagged 13 cases in which they said ballots had been cast by people who did not live in the borough. Mayor Michael Blunt, an ally of Webb's, said one of the voters was registered at a vacant house across the street from his own. "That house across the street is in foreclosure.

State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson has apparently won the Democratic nomination to replace Anna C. Verna as City Councilman from the Second District, representing most of South and Southwest Philadelphia. Johnson held a slim but solid 46-vote lead Monday over his nearest rival, Barbara Capozzi, as city election officials completed counting the absentee and provisional ballots cast in the Second District in last week's primary election. Absentee ballots for the rest of the city are expected to be counted Tuesday, possibly resolving the other too-close-to-call primary race – the contest between Karen Brown and John Featherman for the Republican mayoral nomination.