[EL] Key Pa. Supreme Court ruling

Fri Sep 18 11:59:38 PDT 2020

I think it is important to realize that, given all the troubles of the world, there should be no place for humor or appreciation of irony and absurdity.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 236-6317
Mobile:  (540) 287-8954

________________________________
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of John Tanner <john.k.tanner at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2020 1:52 PM
To: Stephanie Singer <sfsinger at campaignscientific.com>
Cc: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Key Pa. Supreme Court ruling

That, too.   Philadelphia poll workers campaigning, posting sample ballots on the booths, wearing and distributing campaign t-shirts, and marking non-English speaking voters ballots Without consultation.  And a polling place down two flights in a bar private that was so dark they had to turn on the Christmas lights.

Laughing to keep from crying.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 18, 2020, at 12:12 PM, Stephanie Singer <sfsinger at campaignscientific.com> wrote:

A hoot? Maybe if you’ve never thought about the good people there struggling with a 25% poverty rate who can’t get fair representation -- like the super-talented scientific genius kid I knew who had to fight with her mom f the honor of going hungry so the other one could eat.

Philadelphia elections are a tragedy.

On Sep 18, 2020, at 6:31 AM, John Tanner <john.k.tanner at gmail.com<mailto:john.k.tanner at gmail.com>> wrote:

Thanks.    Philadelphia elections are a hoot

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 17, 2020, at 9:24 PM, Stephanie Singer <sfsinger at campaignscientific.com<mailto:sfsinger at campaignscientific.com>> wrote:

In Philadelphia, in 1978, US Attorney Peter Vaira alleged that Marge Tartaglione, who ran Philadelphia elections until early 2012, sent broken voting machines to African American precincts in an attempt to help Frank Rizzo.

There may be other incidents, and other locations, but that’s the one I know was documented.

The Associated Press reported, “A U.S. attorney said...that a federal grand jury is investigating possible violations of the Civil Rights Act in connection with voting machine breakdowns that affected about 20,000 voters on Election Day. ‘There appeared to be a selective breakdown of machines, based on the allegations,’ U.S. Attorney Peter Vaira said. ‘Most of the breakdowns were in the black wards.’ Many blacks registered for the election, spurred on by Mayor Frank Rizzo’s no-holds-barred campaign to change the city charter so he could seek a third term. The amendment was defeated by a 2-to-1 margin. Vaira said the investigation involves the Civil Rights Act, particularly in regard to disenfranchisement of voters and violations of the one-man-one-vote rule. City election officials said that between 200 and 400 voting machines broke down. [...] Kane, election commission chairman Margaret Tartaglione and Thomas Mattia, supervisor of voting machine repairs, appeared before the grand jury under subpoena. They were asked to bring lists of all election judges, voting machine mechanics and other documents relating to the system.” [Associated Press, 11/8/78]

On Sep 17, 2020, at 2:58 PM, John Tanner <john.k.tanner at gmail.com<mailto:john.k.tanner at gmail.com>> wrote:

Which are the towns with a documented history of selective deployment of broken voting machines?   And what sorts of precincts are selected for the broken machines?
I sense a violation.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 17, 2020, at 5:30 PM, Stephanie Singer <sfsinger at campaignscientific.com<mailto:sfsinger at campaignscientific.com>> wrote:

Stephanie Singer<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.pdx.edu%2fprofile%2fstephanie-singer&c=E,1,grDXta3kWqp-8CnJk68G_A6qXNoxXH18pmo9sKmInyJu67e4bylQIQ5eQKl-o2p_Wsd5P_6i2VQafsKtQ0oNtLX5n7ZFvZ-UfKI93JhGCJKXXy8,&typo=1>
Research Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Former Chair, Philadelphia County Board of Elections

On Sep 17, 2020, at 1:17 PM, Pildes, Rick <rick.pildes at nyu.edu<mailto:rick.pildes at nyu.edu>> wrote:

From a policy (not a legal) perspective, I have always been particularly concerned this election about late-counted ballots (maybe the issue won’t matter in the end, because few Pennsylvania voters will mail ballots back at the last minute).

Thanks for this interesting post.

The importance of ballots being counted goes beyond who wins any particular contest. Rejected ballots will affect individuals' (or a zip code’s) voter history on the voter file, which will affect the amount of attention they get from future political campaigns. Given the danger of selective removal of sorting machines, or even the appearance of selective removal of sorting machines in a town with a documented history of selective deployment of broken voting machines, the handling of last minute ballots may be significant.

And these concerns are exacerbated by the delay in mailing out ballots in the first place, due to the court challenge.

In 2021 and 2022, there will be many contests (for poll worker positions and party committee positions) that have often been decided in the past by a single vote or a coin flip.

—Stephanie
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