Making Politics User-Friendly
In the 1990s, Seventy continued to advocate for electronic voting and began to take advantage of new technologies to inform the electorate and decision makers on a regular basis.
In September 1995, The City of Philadelphia Election Reform Task Force issued its Final Report, concluding that the city "should move as expeditiously as feasible to procure a Direct Recording Electronic ("DRE") system with full ballot-face display capability, paper audit-trail printing, and a physically durable design."
In October 1996, a new publication, News You Can Use , was launched primarily as a fax-based newsletter addressing current events with a non-partisan voice. As e-mail became more widely available, News You Can Use subscribers receive almost instant publication. This same year, Seventy was an early entry into the Internet age as evidenced by the simplicity of our website name (www.seventy.org). The Internet has been a major advance in Seventy’s efforts to provide civic education and empower the public.
In 1998, Philadelphia voters approved the purchase of new machines. The city then formed another blue ribbon task force, the Voting Machine Procurement Team, to work out the details. This team, like the Election Reform Task Force, also consisted of a mix of experts from the public and private sectors, including the Committee of Seventy .
In the second half of the 1990s, Seventy also directed its energy to addressing the significant issues of public education and policing. In Governance Matters: School Reform for the Urban District (1997) , Seventy revisited the work of its 1981 Study No School Today, advocating for a “strong-mayor” model of school governance to increase accountability and streamline decision making within the school district. In the Philadelphia Police Department Governance Study (1998), Seventy reviewed the history and development of the Philadelphia Police Department and relied upon comparative analysis of the police departments of the twenty largest U.S. cities to identify a number of reforms which have the potential to enhance policing in Philadelphia.
Expanding: 2000-2004The new millennium has seen the expansion in the scope of Seventy’s constituency to include all residents of the Commonwealth. For most of its history, the focus was solely on the City of Philadelphia and upon Harrisburg to the extent that decisions made at the state capital affected Philadelphians. The addition of the Suburban Supplement to the Election Calendar marked the beginning of service to surrounding communities in the four adjacent Counties and the publication of the Judicial Selection Governance Study in 1983 represented its first effort to serve all Pennsylvanians. While Philadelphia will always be the central focus for Seventy, its role as a statewide educational resource is a source of pride and satisfaction and the number of information requests from around the Commonwealth continue to increase.
In 2000, Seventy revisited the issue of judicial merit selection in Who Chooses? The Need for Judicial Reform in Pennsylvania. This study used a focus group and survey to measure the extent to which most voters in judicial elections lacked information about the candidates and to support the position that a merit based appointment system would not deprive the electorate the opportunity to make info informed choices about who should serve on the judiciary. The recommended reform advocates nomination of candidates for appointment by a bipartisan commission, selection among qualified nominees by the chief executive for a limited initial term, and finally retention in a public election where the voters can make an informed choice based on the judge’s professional record. This proposal enjoys the support of a wide range of reformers in the state government, the judiciary, and the organized bar.
In early 2002, a massive public education campaign lead by Seventy and the City Commissioners helped Philadelphians adjust to the age of electronic voting. In May 2002, the Danaher ELECTronic 1242 machines made their debut in a closely contested Gubernatorial Primary Election. The machines and the tabulation equipment worked very well and the results of most races were known well before the 11:00 pm newscast. The machines have performed just as well in four subsequent elections and Philadelphia can fairly be considered a national model for election efficiency and accuracy.
Making Philadelphia Politics More Accessible In 2003, Seventy redesigned its website to be more user-friendly by reorganizing the more than 400 pages of maps, stats, articles, publications and election materials on the site. News You Can Use now reaches over eighteen hundred subscribers, including many from around the Commonwealth who would not have known of Seventy prior to the World Wide Web. The increased capacity of the redesigned site is also facilitating an ongoing effort to expand the historical resources available to the public, students and educators.
In recent months, the Committee of Seventy has also embarked on a comprehensive study of the Commerce Court Program of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The primary objectives of this study are to identify further opportunities for judicial efficiency, determine which aspects of the existing program can serve as models for other Pennsylvania jurisdictions, and publicize the availability of the program as an efficient dispute resolution mechanism for the business community.
This year also marks the beginning of preparation for a very special event, the Centennial anniversary of The Committee of Seventy. A number of programs and publications are planned and this should be a very exciting and productive year for Seventy’s members, staff, volunteers and friends.