Polling Places

The school board's recent decision to consolidate the township's three polling places into one center for the entire district has raised questions about whether the change will make voting more difficult for those who live outside Williamstown. On Feb. 15, the board voted, 5-4, to eliminate polling places at Oak Knoll Middle School and Whitehall Elementary School. As a result, all votes in the April 19 school board election must be cast in the gymnasium at Williamstown High School, on Clayton Road.

Not that they noticed, but about 600 North Philadelphia voters were moved back into the 181st Legislative District this week - after having been moved out by mistake during a ward remapping last summer. Acting on a petition by one of five candidates seeking to fill the unexpired term of the late Democratic Rep. Alphonso Deal, city election officials on Monday formally shifted the 23d Division of the Fifth Ward from the 182d to the 181st District. The change means voters living in an area bounded by Fourth, Sixth, Spring Garden and Poplar Streets will be able to cast ballots in the special election Tuesday to replace Deal, who died of cancer June 4. W. Curtis Thomas, who is running for the seat as an independent, said he discovered the mix-up recently and asked the city commissioners to intervene.

Teachers in the Colonial School District will be able to work at school polling places next week. But the constitutionality of the district's political activity policy is still before the courts. School board members contend the policy prohibits teachers from working at election sites in Colonial schools. Ten teachers filed a complaint in U.S. District Court last week, asking for an injunction on the board policy in time for Tuesday's election. According to the teachers' attorney, A. Martin Herring, the school board wrote to the court that the policy prohibiting employee political activity on school property would not be enforced Tuesday.

YOU HAVE a right to vote. Use it. 1. Know your polling place: In Philadelphia, check the card you were sent by the City Commission. In the city and elsewhere, call: 1-866-OURVOTE. 2. If a new voter, bring ID. 3. Know your rights: They're listed on signs at the polling places. Also listed, instructions for filing a complaint. 4. Once you sign in, don't leave until you have voted. 5. If someone tries to interfere with your vote, call: The Committee of Seventy: 215-557-3600; or Election Protection, 1-866-OURVOTE; or the Voter Alert Line, 1-866-MYVOTE1.

Despite winning the Republican nomination for the 13th District Congressional seat, Jon D. Fox does not plan to resign yet from the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Fox, 45, said Wednesday that his candidacy would not curtail his commitment to the commission - as only his free time is spent stomping for votes. However, Fox's Democratic challenger in the November general election, Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky, has called for Fox's resignation from the county post. Fox handily defeated GOP challengers Susan Boyer and William Evans in Tuesday's primary.

In southern Baghdad's Doura district yesterday, exasperated U.S. soldiers got a small taste of almost everything that could go wrong with tomorrow's election. They ended the day knowing they had less than 36 hours to fix it. First came the attacks. In the morning, despite dozens of new traffic blockades, a suicide car bomber killed five Iraqis in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up a polling site. The bomber turned around when he saw an Abrams tank positioned at the site, and detonated the bomb at a checkpoint outside the Doura power plant, soldiers said.

Jonathan Ramos went to court yesterday, seeking to overturn the May 18 Democratic primary election he lost to state Rep. Angel Cruz for the state House's 180th District seat. Ramos and two supporters filed a petition in the Common Pleas Court, complaining that Cruz and his brother, Luis, tried to remove judges of election from polling places through fraud and intimidation in the 7th Ward, where Angel Cruz is the leader. They also accuse the Cruz brothers of taking tapes that record the results on voting machines and other materials away from polling places.

Polling sites can be like barber shops: nondescript places, frequented regularly, yet unappreciated until they unexpectedly move. For that matter, in densely populated places like Philadelphia, polling places might actually be in barber shops. Or funeral homes. Or even private homes, in those districts where there are no suitable public buildings. With more than 8,000 polling places across Pennsylvania, relocation tiffs frequently arise, most of them minor. Bob Lee, Philadelphia's voter registration administrator, said it is routine to have 50 polling-place changes before each election.

U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro yesterday ruled that the city can continue to provide so-called "alternative ballots" to many voters who are over 65 or disabled for use in upcoming local elections. The judge rejected legal challenges filed last year by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and three individuals. The NAACP contends that use of alternative ballots in local elections created opportunities for vote fraud. Since 1984, when Congress passed the Voting Accessibility of the Elderly and Handicapped Act, alternative ballots have been available for use in federal elections.

In recent years, Election Day in this township has become associated with long lines at the polling places. But those days may be a thing of the past. The May primary will bring the opening of four new voting locations. Last week, Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Smyth approved a request by township political leaders to double the number of voting districts to eight. He approved the petition after a hearing Tuesday in Norristown. The petition was filed last month by the county Board of Elections at the urging of the Republican and Democratic committees, according to Michael McAdoo, chief clerk of the election board.