Polling Places

The Delaware County Board of Elections approved the relocation of five polling places this week and gave its nod to districting changes in Chester. The following polling places will be relocated for the May 16 primary election: In Aston, Fourth Ward voters using the facility at 233 Pennell Rd. will now vote at Pennell Elementary School, 3300 Richard Rd. In Upper Chichester, voters in the Fifth Ward's second precinct who used the Reliance Fire Company at 1661 Mill Rd. will now use Lutheran Knowles at 1800 Mill Rd. In Darby Borough, voters in the Third Ward's second precinct who used to vote at 100 N. Front St. will now vote in Addie's Day Nursery, at 301 N. Third St. In Chester, voters in the 11th Ward's second precinct who had used the Holy Ghost School's auditorium, Third and Booth Streets, will now vote at 2827 W. Third St. Also, voters in the 11th Ward's seventh precinct who had voted in the garage at 2601 People St. will now vote at 2411 Bethel Rd. Reasons for the changes varied from property being sold to a lack of restrooms.

As he made the rounds at polling places in North and Southwest Philadelphia yesterday, kissing babies and shaking hands, Mayor Goode was greeted like a departing monarch on a final tour of his provinces. Campaign workers shook his hand - even those who had supported candidates he opposed. Children hugged him and gave him high-fives. Citizens said, "Thank you," and wished him well. Though he will reign for seven more months as the city's first black mayor, Goode's day was an ending of sorts: The vote totals spelled the end, at least for now, of black leadership at the top of city government.

In a case that a state lawyer called a "tempest in a T-shirt," a Commonwealth Court judge will soon decide whether to bar voters from wearing political items such as hats and campaign buttons inside polling places. Judge Robert Simpson Jr. heard an hour of arguments yesterday in a suit brought by two Pittsburgh-area elections officials that asks the court to force each of the state's 67 counties to ban so-called passive electioneering. At the heart of the issue is an early September letter sent by Pennsylvania Department of State officials to the 67 county election boards.

A bill to limit the use of private homes as polling places rolled through both chambers of the General Assembly yesterday in what opponents called an attempt to suppress Philadelphia's Democratic vote this fall. Proponents said the "Voter Accessibility Act," which passed by comfortable margins on the last legislative voting session before the May 16 primary, was designed to combat election fraud. In March, Gov. Rendell vetoed an earlier version of the legislation that would have required voters to show photo ID before casting ballots.

Come Tuesday, John Sabatina fully expects a few hundred of his neighbors to walk or drive to his Northeast Philadelphia house, then head up the driveway to his garage. After all, that is where they have gone to vote every Election Day for seven years. This time, though, signs will direct them to the Orleans Vocational Center, more than a half-mile away. "We'll put the word out, and there'll be posters," said Sabatina, Democratic leader of the 56th Ward. Still, he expects that many voters in the 19th Division in Bustleton, where he lives, will show up only "to see a sign that says, 'You can't vote here.

Philadelphia schools will be open on primary election day in May to make up for snow days, leaving some officials worried about children's safety. "It's going to be a mess," said Margaret Tartaglione, who chairs the commissioners who oversee city elections. "There will be thousands of people walking through the schools, and it's dangerous. I got such a headache. " Students have not had school on an election day since at least 2007 because of a policy change suggested by Tartaglione and agreed to by the School District of Philadelphia.

The Committee of Seventy says it is only trying to uphold the law, and to ensure an open and fair election. But local NAACP president J. Whyatt Mondesire said the election watchdog group has gone overboard and has lost its mission. In a sarcasm-laden letter to the committee's chairman, Mondesire yesterday called charges that Democrat Cherelle Parker, winner of Tuesday's race for a vacant state House seat, may have violated the state election code "frivolous. " The committee announced on Wednesday that it had asked the District Attorney's Office to investigate whether Parker's multiple visits inside several polling places Tuesday were against the state code.

On Election Day, voters in a tiny corner of this township again will converge on a Belmont Avenue garage, despite complaints from some Democrats that the polling site is inhospitable and hard to find. The Democrats say the detached, three-car garage, which has served as the Fifth Ward's third-precinct polling place since the reapportionment after the 1990 census, is cramped and offers few of the amenities available at other polling sites. The precinct is the only one of Haverford's 37 voting districts where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans.

As Bosnian voters go to the polls today, U.S. troops will be assuming a larger and more varied role than in any previous election on foreign soil. They will be patrolling polling places, detaining and holding troublemakers, and even delivering ballots in U.S. Army trucks to ensure that no flare-ups of violence mar what is supposed to be the culminating moment in the Dayton peace process. The election duty might also be one of the most dangerous phases of the mission to date.

Could a schlepp across a college campus determine the next president of the United States? That's what some political activists at the University of Pennsylvania are arguing as they skirmish over a proposal to increase the number of polling places on campus. As things stand now, five electoral divisions that cover the Penn campus all vote at the same spot: David Rittenhouse Laboratory, at 33d and Walnut Streets. Members of the school's College Democrats say too many voters crowding into the polling place, as well as the location's distance from parts of a campus that stretches to 40th Street, could depress turnout.